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/6^ .// ^ v 

^6 ^ r 'ty^' 


TRAVE L S 


IN 


GERMANY AND RUSSIA: 


INCLUDING A 

STEAM VOYAGE BY THE DANUBE AND THE EUXINE 
FROM VIENNA TO CONSTANTINOPLE, 

IN 1838—39. 



ADOLPHUS SLADE, ESQ. R.N. 

* ♦ 

AUTHOR OF 

“ RECORDS OF TRAVELS IN THE EAST : ” “ TURKEY, GREECE, 

AND MALTA : ” ETC. ETC. 



-LONDON: 

LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 

M.DCCC.XL. 










LONDON : 

PRINTED RY MANNING AND MASON, 
IVY I.ANE, PATERNOSTER ROW 


* 



TO 


JOHN CARTWRIGHT, ESQ. 

BRITISH CONSUL-GENERAL AT CONSTANTINOPLE, 

THE ABLE AND ZEALOUS SUPPORTER OE 
THE INTERESTS OP HIS COUNTRYMEN IN TURKEY 
FOR MORE THAN A QUARTER OP A CENTURY, 

. » 

THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED, 

WITH RESPECT AND ESTEEM, 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 






.. 








. 








*■ 






. 

. 
















































. 

















CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

STEAM-BOAT-HELIGOLAND— STADE DUES — CUX- 

HAVEN — BREMEN-HAFEN - BREMEN — HANSE 

TOWNS—COMMERCIAL UNION—HANOVER - ,1 

II. 

HANOVER—HOTEL—TRAVELLERS—TURKISH PASHA 
— OPERA — SOCIETY — HANOVERIAN ARMY — THE 

KING-CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION OF HANOVER— 

REVENUE OF HANOVER - - - - - 28 

III. 

COMPAN IONS — HALSBERSTADT—ACCIDENT — EDUCA¬ 
TION—HALLE — LEIPSIG— DRESDEN — AMERICANS 
—CULM—TCEPLITZ—PRAGUE—HISTORIC NOTICE — 
POST-TRAVELLING ------ 60 

IV. 

VIENNA — AUSTRIANS AND TURKS—PUBLIC BUILD¬ 
INGS— SCHOENBRUNN — PRINCE OF DENMARK— 

THEATRE — PLAGUE — MUSEUMS-THE LATE AND 

THE PRESENT EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA — PRINCE 
METTERNICH ------ 90 







VI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER V. 

PAGE 

STEAMERS—SAN D-BAN KS — PRESBU RG1I — KOMORN — 

GRAN—VISSEGRADE — PEST — MOIIACS — BATTLE— 
PETERWARDEIN—NEUSATZ — CARLOWITZ—BATTLE 
OF SALEMKENEN—THE KUPR1GL1S * - - 119 

VI. 

SEMLIN — RIVERS — NAVIGATION — BELGRADE — SER- 
VIA—AUSTRIAN POLICY—SEMENDRIA— MILITARY 
FRONTIER—NARROWS OF THE DANUBE—KASAN— 
ROMAN ROAD — “ IRON GATE ” — COMPLICATED 
FRONTIER—ORSOVA - 146 

VII. 

ORSOVA—MEHADIA—NEW ORSOVA—THE IRON GATE 
—SKELA CLADOVA — WIDDIN — PASWAN OGLOU— 
RAHOVA—NICOPOLIS—SISTOW—RUTSCHUK — SUL¬ 
TAN MAHMOUD—MUSTAPHA BAIRACTAR—REVO¬ 
LUTIONS - - - - - - -169 

VIII. 

GIURGEWO—RASSOWA—CZERNAVODA—CANAL — THE 
DANUBE — BRAILOW — GALATZ — CONSTITUTIONAL 
ACT—TULSCHA—SOULINAH — VARNA —THE BOS¬ 
PHORUS ------- 190 


IX. 

QUARANTINE —GALATA— PER A — TRAVELLERS — COS- 
TUME— TROOPS — PALACES — BRIDGE — SULTANA 
MIHIRMAH—PERTEFF PASHA —WASSAF EFFENDI — 
SULTAN MAIIMODD AND MEHEMET ALI - - 214 


CONTENTS. 


VII 


CHAPTER X. 

THE JANISSARIES — MEHEMET ALI — EGYPTIAN AND 
TURKISH POWER—RUSSIA—CONSTANTINOPLE 

XI. 

FORTIFICATIONS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 

XII. 

DIPLOMATISTS AT CONSTANTINOPLE—COMMERCIAL 
TREATY BETWEEN ENGLAND AND TURKEY—CHA¬ 
RACTERS—VOYAGE TO ODESSA - 

XIII. 

ODESSA HARBOUR — HONOURS — POLICE OFFICE — 

QUARANTINE — THE SPOGLIO — CONFINEMENT- 

RUSSIAN ARMY—DOCUMENTS — RELIGIOUS CERE¬ 
MONY—ODESSA ------ 


XIV. 

ODESSA — GOVERNORS — SOCIETY—CLIMATE —CON¬ 
SUMPTION — RUSSIANS AND GREEKS — SPECU¬ 
LATIONS — BRANDY MONOPOLY — GREEK MER¬ 
CHANTS—MERINO SHEEP - - - 

XV. 

CORN—CORN-LAWS—FAMINE—PROPRIETORS—SERFS 
—MERCHANTS—ARTIFICIAL NOBILITY -MILITARY 
RANK— DEGRADATION— EXILES—CORRUPTION— 
SECRET POLICE—rOLES—THE CIRCASSIANS 


PAGE 

243 


2C>4 


281 


299 


324 


348 


VIH 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER XVI. 

GOVERNOR— ROBBERY— POLICE— DEMORALIZATION 

— BRIGANDAGE — CONSULS — RUSSIAN ARMY — 
RUSSIAN GENERALS— KHIVA — BOKHARA — COM¬ 
MERCE WITH CENTRAL ASIA - 

XVII. 

INDIVIDUALS—JOURNALS — GERMAN VILLAGES — 
COLONIZATION AND EMIGRATION—BALL—LADIES 

— DECORATIONS — NEW YEAR — REMARKABLE 
OPERATION—LENT ------ 


XVIII. 

PASSPORTS — VOITURIN — JEWS —SOLDIERS— TULT- 
SCHIN— BRITSHKA— NIGHT TRAVELLING — POST¬ 
MASTER—RUSSIAN AND POLISH TOWNS—PEASANTS 
—SKILFUL DRIVING—RADZIVILOF - 

XIX. 

SURPRISE — BRODY— CHARACTERISTICS — LEMBERG 
—PARADE— PODGORZ— CRACOW— POLISH WAR— 

jews—kosciusko’s tumulus—the poles 

XX. 

CRACOW—BRESLAW—MANUFACTURES — PROVINCIAL 
PARLIAMENTS — POORHOUSES—BERLIN—CATHOLIC 
CLERGY—SANS SOUCI —MUSEUM—MAGDEBURGH— 
HANOVER ------- 


LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF RUSSIA 


PAGE 

384 

413 

431 

458 

477 

505 



# 




CHAPTER I. 

STEAM-BOAT -HELIGOLAND- STADE DUES-CUXHAVEN - 

BREMEN-HAFEN-BREMEN-IIANSE TOWNS-COMMERCIAL 

UNION-HANOVER. 

As the London custom-house clock was striking 
six on the morning of August 1st, 1838, the 
paddle-wheels of the “ Britannia,” bound for 
Hamburgh, began to revolve. The water was 
smooth and the wind fair, with a Scotch mist 
—anglice drizzling rain. In ten minutes more, 
the steamer was dashing along the noble stream 
which offers the surest evidence of England’s 
power and prosperity. We soon afterwards 
passed one of the steam leviathans, the Sirius, 
then about to make a first run to St. Peters- 
burgh. The towers of Greenwich and the 
docks of Woolwich were soon also left behind. 
A stranger ascending the Thames has no oc¬ 
casion to be told that he is approaching the 
mighty capital of a great people. The crowded 
river on which he is gliding, bearing contribu- 

B 


2 


PASSENGERS. 


tions from every clime, the towns and villages 
he passes in rapid succession, the gay villas and 
green meadows in the intervals, then the dense 
throng of shipping in the “ Pool, the stores, 
the docks, and hotels on either bank, and lastly 
the Tower with its sad and stirring recollections, 
the bridges destined to be monuments of the 
past when London shall be a gone-by wonder, 
and the busy hum of the distant million, all 
make him exclaim, this has no parallel : here 
Rome and ‘Carthage appear to be combined. 

At eight o’clock, the passengers, who had 
embarked the preceding evening, began to 
emerge, blinking, from their dark dormitory, 
and sat down to the well furnished breakfast- 
table presided at by the attentive captain. I 
recognised an old Malta friend in Captain 
Walker of the engineers, and hailed his ap¬ 
pearance with pleasure as a certain relief to 
the tedium of the passage, for, in addition to 
friendship in this case, the officers of the 
engineers and artillery are in general full of 
information and of the world’s usage. We had 
much pleasant chat of old lang syne in the 
bright sunny isles of the Mediterranean. Ham¬ 
burgh traders and Jews formed the greater part 
of the passengers’ list. There were besides a 
Spanish hidalgo, named Martinez, with three 


GERMAN LANGUAGE. 3 

dark sons, and a fine youth, the brother of 
Lord Ward, who was proceeding to Germany 
with Capt. Walker to look at the frauen and 
learn the (inharmonious language, unharmonious 
even in their pretty mouths. I respect the Ger¬ 
man language because it is the root of English, 
but I consider the child more graceful than the 
mother, sliding more easily over the tongue, 
and winding a gentler course through the auri¬ 
cular labyrinth. I respect the German language 
on account of the thought and feeling embodied 
in it, but I look on Shakspeare (so do most 
Germans) as superior to all that Germany ever 
produced, while in modern times the laurels of 
Walter Scott and of Byron are as bright as 
those of Goethe and of Schiller. I respect the 
German language because freedom sounded 
with it her earliest and most constant triumphs, 
because Luther rescued with it truth from the 
mazes of perversion, because monarchs learned 
with it the sublime lesson that to rule tranquilly 
they must render their people happy; but I still 
think the tongue is harsh to the ear, and when 
sung on the stage it seems to jar the orchestra, 
at least in the estimation of those accustomed 
to hear the same music accompanying Italian 
accents. 

We saw Heligoland the second morning. As 

b 2 



4 


HELIGOLAND. 


we gazed on the queer-looking spot through 
a grey mist, we did not envy the honourable 
situation of its governor.* This fisher’s rock 
is the leading mark for the Elbe ; as such we 
planted our banner on it, as on nearly every 
other island in the world, situated in an advan¬ 
tageous locality. We now only want Candia to 
make our ocean zone complete with gems. We 
captured Heligoland in 1809 from the Danes, 
to whom it had belonged immemorially. The 
island was valuable to us in the war to harbour 
smugglers in, and for watching thence the 
proceedings of the enemy in the river. The 
possession is rather onerous now on account of 
the necessity we are under of keeping up a 
lighthouse for all the world, while none but 
English vessels pay for the convenience. This 
is not as it ought to be, as everybody would 
perceive were we to put out the light—which of 
course we could not do. While Heligoland 
belonged to Denmark, the Hamburghers main¬ 
tained the light, and in return were allowed to 
levy a duty on every vessel arriving at their 
ports. As this was a profitable undertaking, the 

* Major-General Sir Henry King. The salary is 603 1 
a year. The civil establishment of the island consists of a 
secretary to the governor with a salary of 137/. a-year, 
and an old woman to watch a buoy. 


HELIGOLAND. 


5 


senate offered at the general peace to continue to 
light Heligoland on the same conditions. The 
English Government, however, very properly 
declined the proposition, on the consideration 
that it would ill become England to allow a 
stranger to light up one of her lighthouses, 
but proposed at the same time that the senate 
should levy the dues, as heretofore, on all 
vessels arriving at Hamburgh ; and as the 
Heligoland light is an European rather than 
an English one, and is of more service to Ham¬ 
burgh than to any other place, nothing could 
be fairer. Ten foreign ships enter the Elbe for 
one English ship. The senate refused to collect 
the dues on our account, and in consequence 
the burden falls solely on English vessels, from 
which it is collected by the English consul 
at Hamburgh. The evasion was conceived in 
a narrow mercantile spirit unworthy of a free 
city like Hamburgh. The amount levied on 
English vessels pays for the expenses of the 
light: were it divided amongst the vessels of 
all nations which navigate the Elbe, as justice 
demands, it would be unfelt. 

The Hamburghers acted inconsistently with 
themselves in refusing to collect the said light 
dues for England, because , they collect the 
Stade dues which equally belong to a foreign 


6 


STADE DUTY. 


state (Hanover) and are of an exceptionable 
.nature. As this duty is beginning to attract 
notice, a few words about it may not seem out 
of place. The right of levying a toll on every 
vessel ascending the Elbe, in proportion to her 
value, was granted by the emperors of Germany 
to certain of the Hanse towns for the improve¬ 
ment and protection of the navigation of the 
Elbe; and Stade, a convenient spot on the left 
bank, not far from the mouth of the river, was 
fixed on for the purpose. In the present day, 
none but fishing boats and other small craft pay 
the duty at Stade : vessels of burthen proceed 
on to Hamburgh, and there acquit themselves. 

When Sweden conquered Bremen, in the 
seventeenth century, with the adjoining territory 
on the left bank of the Elbe, she became also 
receiver of the Stade dues, which were then 
considered a goodly item of revenue. Sweden, 
however, did not Hong enjoy them. England 
assisted the Elector of Luneburgh to drive out 
the Swedes, and from that time the produce of 
the Stade duty has belonged to the Hanoverian 
government. All vessels are subject to it, ex¬ 
cepting those of Denmark and Hamburgh, as 
belonging to riverain states. Considering the 
connexion between England and Hanover, the 
duty has fallen very hard on the English trade ; 


STADE DUTY. 


and the rigid maintenance of it is a remarkable 
exemplification of the affection with which the 
Guelphic race has ever regarded its hereditary 
dominions. No minister in Engtand would ever 
interfere with Hanover. The Stade dues have 
caused much irritation and remonstrance since 
1820; yet the ministers of George the Fourth 
and William the Fourth would not, or could not, 
induce those monarchs to yield or modify them. 

Since the separation of Hanover from England 
the subject has been taken up with earnestness 
by the English government, and already some 
modifications have been obtained. At the same 
time his Hanoverian Majesty may think it rather 
hard that he should be required to abandon a 
duty * which forms an important item in the 
revenue of a small state, when the wealthy mo¬ 
narchs of Great Britain and Hanover combined 
enjoyed it unquestioned for more than a century. 
He may deem himself entitled to expect a com¬ 
pensation, for if duration gives a right, no duty 
rests on a clearer foundation ; it is, perhaps, the 
most ancient one in Europe. A convenient com¬ 
pensation, suiting all parties, might be found 
in the cession of Heligoland to Hanover. In 

* The Stacie dues collected by the Hanoverian govern¬ 
ment amount to near 30,000/. a year, of which sum English' 
vessels contribute about 13,000/. 


8 


STADE DUTY. 


that case, the Hanoverian government might 
abandon the Stade duty which is obnoxious and 
of unequal pressure, and in part compensation 
thereof exact a light-due on all vessels which 
enter the Elbe, at which no one could reasonably 
murmur. As England has no sovereign rights 
in the Elbe, the possession of Heligoland will 
never enable her to make any vessels besides 
her own pay for the light; whereas Hanover, 
being in possession of such rights, would have 
the power to enforce a just rate on ships of all 
nations. The Heligolanders would profit greatly 
by the change of masters : they are peculiarly 
aggrieved by the Stade dues, from which they 
were exempted, as subjects of Denmark, till their 
island became annexed to England. It rarely 
happens that any people suffers by coming under 
the English rule, but these poor islanders cer¬ 
tainly have done so. They depend principally 
on fishing for their livelihood. They carry the 
produce of their nets to Hamburgh, where, owing 
to the Stade duty, to which they are liable as 
non-riverains, they have not a fair chance in the 
market with the Blankenese fishermen who are 
exempted from the duty as subjects of Denmark. 
In addition to this immediate and direct dis- 
• advantage which the Heligolander suffers, the 
detention at Stade to have his cargo entered 


CUXIIAVEN. 


9 


and rated may cause him to lose a fair wind and 
tide, seeing at the same time his Danish rivals 
take advantage of both. 

An old English gun-brig lies off Stade, and 
composes the Hanoverian navy. 

I did not proceed so far up the river, but 
stopped at Cuxhaven. Having an idea of return¬ 
ing to England by the same route, I thought 
that one visit to Hamburgh would suffice. At 
the moment of landing I found myself embar¬ 
rassed with a saddle which I had brought for 
the purpose of riding through European Turkey 
to Constantinople. I had intended to forward 
it from Hamburgh to Vienna by wagen , but 
feared now the loss of it, if I trusted to the 
captain’s eyes to see it booked. I did not like to 
increase my impedimenta —(expressive word !)— 
by taking it with me ; for although a saddle takes 
up very little room on a horse, it is a most 
impracticable article in a carriage. From this 
dilemma one of our fellow-passengers, a mer¬ 
chant of Hamburgh, relieved me, by offering to 
see it forwarded securely. He kept his word. 
I found my saddle with his correspondent at 
Vienna; but the charges of the worthy trader 
rather surprised me. The expenses at Hamburgh 
(how incurred I could not guess, for the duty on 
goods for consumption is only half per cent., and 


10 


CUXHAVEN. 


none is charged on goods for transit) amounted 
to more than eleven florins, while the cost of 
carriage to Vienna was less than three florins. 
Mr. H. Karsten, a merchant of Bremen, changed 
his intention of returning home by Hamburgh, 
and offered me his company, which proved very 
acceptable. 

Cux haven appeared Turkish in my eyes. 
The square was little better than a swamp ; the 
streets were unpaved, and the houses chiefly 
built of wood. But the place had that in which 
every Turkish town is deficient, not even except¬ 
ing Pera, viz. a good inn; where, while our 
carriage was preparing, we discussed an excel¬ 
lent breakfast for the moderate charge of one 
shilling a-head. We found also a notable bathing 
establishment, and a ball-room, for the benefit 
and amusement of the Hamburghers. Many 
of the citizens, however, as the water at Cux- 
haven is rather brackish, prefer sea-bathing at 
Nordeneye, a small island belonging to Hanover 
at the mouth of the Weser, where the air is 
considered particularly invigorating. A steamer 
runs, in the season, between Hamburgh and 
Nordeneye. The Crown Prince of Hanover has 
frequented Nordeneye each season since his 
father’s accession, and the spot has conse¬ 
quently risen in estimation, though the exe- 


IIANOVEU. 


11 


crable road leading to it from Hanover keeps 
away many of the Hanoverians who otherwise 
might go there. 

On leaving Cuxhaven we entered immediately 
on the Hanoverian territorv, and traversed a 
sandy heath in the direction of Bremen-hafen. 
We were in danger of an upset several times in 
the so-called road, and were obliged to walk on 
foot occasionally, in order to lighten our vehicle 
in the deep sand sodden by rain. Such a country 
appeared to us scarcely worth acceptance even 
on absentee terms. At the same time it would 
be unfair to judge of Hanover by the aspect of 
the country between Cuxhaven and Bremen. 
In other parts the soil is fertile, and very pro¬ 
ductive. Corn is grown in abundance, and there 
is excellent grazing land. Hanoverian wool is 
naturally one of the best descriptions after me¬ 
rino wool; and if due attention were bestowed 
on the sheep, they would, I dare say, prove 
equal to the Saxon breed. Tobacco and beet¬ 
root are cultivated in some parts of the kingdom, 
but not to any extent. There are also mines in 
the Hartz mountains.* 

* The mines of the Hartz mountains produce annually 
from 4 lbs. to 5 lbs. of gold; 2000 lbs. of silver; 80,000 
quintals of iron; 3000 quintals of copper; 50 quintals ot 
tin, besides lead and coal. The iron and coal are of good 


12 


HANOVER. 


From all I have heard on the subject, I 
should say that the natural productions of 
Hanover are capable of considerable increase, 
while no country is better situated for manu¬ 
factures. Placed at the outlets of the Elbe and 
the Weser (with the latter of which rivers the 

V 

capital communicates by minor streams) it has 
all facilities for receiving the raw material and 
for re-exportation. Labour is cheap in Hanover, 
and living moderate. The country being very 
flat is admirably adapted for railroads.* But the 
Hanoverians have as yet evinced no disposition 
to join the progress of the age, which has given 
quite another character to Prussia, Saxony, and 
Bavaria : they are pleased with their status quo 
which partakes of feudalism, and remain satis¬ 
fied with the moderate returns arising from 

quality, but not in sufficient quantity for the consumption 
of the country. The gold and silver extracted from the 
Hartz mountains are divided between the governments of 
Hanover and Brunswick. 

* An English company a few years ago offered to make 
a rail road at its own expense from Hanover to Harburgh, a 
distance of 100 miles. The Hanoverian ministers rejected 
the proposition so truly advantageous to their country. 
Repenting however of their decision after a while, they en¬ 
deavoured to re-open communications with the company, 
but were then told that the money destined for the rail road 
had been applied to other purposes. 


HANOVER. 


13 


agriculture and grazing. I will not say that 
they do not trade. They do so, and the Hano¬ 
verian flag is to be met with in many parts of 
the world. Their seamen are enterprising and 
hardy : I remember being at Odessa in winter 
when ships were in great demand to carry corn 
to England and the freight in consequence 
doubled, yet, though upwards of 100 sail of 
merchantmen of various nations were at Con- 
tantinople, only English and Hanoverian 
vessels ventured into the dreaded Euxine ; at 
which our English self-love was highly 
flattered. In general the Hanoverians are 
essentially an agricultural people, and it will 
require a strong impetus to make them enter 
fairly on the career of manufactures and 
commerce. A junction with the Prussian 
Commercial Union would probably have in¬ 
duced this change, but the connexion between 
Hanover and the British crown has prevented 
any idea of this from being entertained, seeing 
how hostile the “ Union ” is to British interests. 
In imitation of it, Hanover effected a counter 
or emulous Union with Brunswick, Oldenburgh, 
Cassel, Hamburgh, Bremen, etc., which states 
are become as one country to the merchant and 
traveller. What a superb application of political 
science ! Could it be applied to the various states 


14 


COMMERCIAL UNION. 


of Italy, so separate in their interests, so dis¬ 
jointed by rivalries, so detached one from the 

other by dialects, laws, custom-houses, and 
%/ 

coin, where all should be as one family, ani¬ 
mated by one desire, stimulated by one object— 
Italian glory,—that beautiful region would soon 
take her place among the great nations of the 
earth, and commerce, order, and comparative 
freedom flourish in graceful union with the arts 
and sciences, from the Alps to the ruins of 
Girgenti. We have only to imagine England, 
Scotland, and Ireland with different rates of 
duties respectively, separated from each oilier 
by barriers and custom-house officers, not to 
mention the concomitant evils of smuggling and 
jealously, and the limitation of enterprise, to see 
the importance of these commercial unions, the 
plan of which emanated from that modest-look¬ 
ing house on the Linden Strasse , Berlin , dis¬ 
tinguished by two sentries at the door, and by 
flowers in the windows. Could the good Frede¬ 
rick William of Prussia have included Hanover 
in his celebrated and profound political commer¬ 
cial system,* his control, direct or indirect, over 

* The object of this master-piece of legislation was to 
convert the rivalry of small states into an union of interests 
—to make all tend to one grand result, viz.—German im¬ 
provement. It gives to the smallest state of the Union the 


COMMERCIAL UNION. 


15 


the admission of foreign manufactures into all 
parts of Germany, excepting Austria, would have 
been complete. Whatever course Hanover might 
have adopted, or may adopt, must have been, or 
will be, binding on Brunswick, Bremen, Olden- 
burgh, etc., whether desired by them or not, 
owing to their localities. Family ties and 
arrangements, added to juxta-position, make 
Brunswick side with Hanover. Bremen and 
Oldenburgh might prefer the Prussian com¬ 
mercial union to any other, but the interposition 
of Hanover between those states and Prussia is a 
barrier. Hamburgh, I imagine, would object 

advantages of a large empire, by placing it in the condition 
of a province of a great kingdom in all that regards com¬ 
merce and free intercourse with the other parts of the system. 
It gives them collectively the power of forming equitable 
commercial arrangements with any large state, for, compri¬ 
sing twenty-six millions of inhabitants, it can offer recipro¬ 
city. The impetus given thereby to German manufactures 
is beginning to lessen the demand for ours in the German 
markets, and may in time enable the Germans to compete 
with us elsewhere. The benefit which accrues to the mem¬ 
bers of the Prussian union is great and certain of increase ; 
for it conciliates the interests of all parties, from the prince 
to the peasant. The union is effecting what Napoleon’s 
Decrees vainly aimed at. It is also the initiative of the 
day-dream of every German, viz. to form Germany into one 
nation : similarity of coin is about to follow. 


16 


COMMERCIAL UNION. 


to a more intimate union with Prussia, because 
she has a shrewd idea of the fraternizing wishes 
of the Prussians in her behalf; but were Han¬ 
over to join the Prussian Union she would 
be drawn in also. Frankfort endeavouied to 
keep aloof from that union, but isolated as ;?he 
was, her opposition proved unavailing, or rather 
her interests were beginning to suffer materially 
by holding aloof. Political ascendency will fol¬ 
low the commercial supremacy of Prussia where- 
ever established ; and perhaps this consideration 
has influenced the decision of the Hanoverian 
government hitherto. We trust that it will 
continue to do so. Owing to it, a considerable 
portion of Northern Germany (including an 
extent of coast and two navigable rivers) is out 
of the pale of the Prussian Commercial Union, 
and offers a market where English manufactures 
fairly compete with the produce of the German 
loom, besides giving facilities for contraband 
traffic across the frontiers of Hanover and Bruns¬ 
wick. 

Our bad road (a curiosity in western Europe) 
continued without intermission as far as Bremen- 
liafen. We halted there for a couple of hours to 
dine, and admire the new evidence of the pro¬ 
sperity of Bremen. The existence of Bremen- 
hafen (the port of Bremen) dates about nine 




BREMEN-HAFEN. 17 

years : though so recent, the town is solidly 
built and flourishing : my companion and self 
can bear witness to the goodness of the hotel, as 
well as to the excellence of the culinary and 
vinous department. The port of Bremen used 
to be in the Duchy of Oldenburgh, on the oppo¬ 
site side of the Weser ; but owing to disputes 
between the authorities of Bremen and Olden¬ 
burgh, and other inconveniences, the Bremenese 
negotiated with the government of Hanover for 
the purchase of a piece of ground, twenty-five 
miles from Bremen, favourably situated on the 
same side of the river. The Hanoverian govern¬ 
ment gave its consent on condition that Hanover 
should build and garrison a fort, commanding 
the site, in token of Suzerainty. The land thus 
ceded is about three miles in circuit. The new 
town at the period of our visit presented a respect¬ 
able appearance, and the fort was nearly finished. 
The Weser is deep at Bremen-hafen : the largest 
vessels come up to the town. We remarked some 
fine ships alongside the quay. The Bremenese 
build their own vessels, and carrry on an exten¬ 
sive trade. They export English and German 
manufactures to South America and to the 
Havanna, and import sugar, coffee, cotton, and 
tobacco. They import sugar from Rio de Jane¬ 
iro, coffee from Bahia, cotton from Pernambuco, 

c 


18 


COLONIES. 


tobacco from Cuba and the United States, and 
some dollars from Mexico. Brazilian sugars 
and coffees are beginning to exclude English 
West-Indian produce from the German market; 
as slave labour is likely to continue in the 
Brazils, the productions of that country must 
under-sell those of the English West Indies, 
and will naturally form in a few years the prin¬ 
cipal foreign supply of Germany. 

Unfortunately, the continued existence of 
Brazil in a prosperous commercial state is 
dependent on forced labour. Without slaves, 
Brazil would rapidly decline in wealth and 
importance ; the holders of her bonds would not 
receive a dividend much longer. The Brazilian 
government is aware of this lamentable fact, 
and therefore ‘ 4 looks through its fingers”—as 
the Germans say—at a large annual importation 
of human flesh. Horrid traffic!—more horrid, 
that the wants of civilization should have caused 
it!—still more horrid, that it has flourished in 
the Christian era more than in an any other 
period of the world ! 

* Forto-rico offers an example of the difference of pro¬ 
duction in favour of the slave-importing colonies. Before 
the emancipation of our negroes Porto-rico imported sugar 
for home consumption : now it exports largely. 


COLONIES. 


19 


My companion had resided three years in 
Rio de Janeiro, and described it as a very 
thriving city, with 280,000 inhabitants, and 
provided with hotels and cafes that would not 
discredit Paris. The emperor was, he said, a 
heavy-browed lad, with the vacant look which 
has characterized so many of the Braganza 
family. The emigration of the Braganza family 
proved a truly fortunate circumstance for Brazil, 
which thereby emerged at once into a kingdom 
organized and respectable, without having to go 
through the preparatory process of anarchy and 
constitutional experiments. Could the royal 
family of Spain have equally avoided Napoleon 
by a removal to America, much misery might 
have been spared ; for on that event the pro¬ 
vinces would necessarily have exchanged their 
condition of Spanish colonies for that of national 
existence under their own monarch, who, on 
returning to Europe, would have left one of his 
race to rule over the new kingdom. Don 
Carlos would have thought twice on the subject 
before leaving so fair an empire to undertake 
a war of succession in Spain. With cities like 
Mexico on the lake, and Lima in the valley, 
and Quito amidst the eagles’ nests of the Andes, 
he need not have regretted Madrid. English 
capital would have worked his inexhaustible 

c 2 


20 


COLONIES. 


mines, and made him one of the richest of mo- 
narchs, and Panama might again have become 
the entrepot for two oceans. But this is a dream. 
How sad is the contrast! The Peruvians and 
Chilians, instead of living in brotherhood, are 
constantly at war with each other ; the Mexicans 
surrender their strongest fortress to a French 
squadron, as weak, comparatively, as the expe¬ 
dition of Cortez against poor Montezuma; and 
Don Carlos has lighted the flame of civil war 
on the Biscayan hills. Chateaubriand, in his 
“Guerre d’Espagne” (the monument of his 
vanity), tells us that he wished to convert the 
revolted Spanish colonies into principalities 
under Bourbon princes; but Canning antici¬ 
pated him by calling them into republican exist¬ 
ence. If the plan of the author of Attila had 
been practicable (which seems doubtful, because 
civil war already raged over nearly the whole 
extent of South America), it would assuredly 
have suited the real interests of the provinces. 
A colony emancipating itself from the rule of 
the parent country, should yet preserve the spirit 
if not the forms of its political institutions : the 
change should be in accordance with the habits 
and education of the people in order to ensure 
its welfare. A people naturally dislikes the 
government which it abandons; at the same 


COLONIES. 


21 


time that form of government, freed of its ob¬ 
noxious qualities, and modified to suit the exi¬ 
gences of the times, is the one best adapted to 
it. From a despotism such as Spain exercised 
over her colonies, to a constitutional monarchy, 
would have been a salutary change, —a change 
in reality, and not in form ; preserving the 
essential benefits of monarchy without its evils ; 
appeasing angry recollections, and exciting no 
vain ambition. The change would have been 
felt everywhere, while scarcely apparent to the 
careless observer. The social stream would have 
flowed on in its accustomed channel, cleared of 
the rocks and sands of oppression and cor¬ 
ruption which had obstructed its beneficial 
course. If republicanism had afterwards su¬ 
pervened, the transition would have been gra¬ 
dual, and perhaps harmless. But that would 
not have been called for: a limited monarchy, 
could it have succeeded without an interval 
to the Spanish rule, would have satisfied all 
the desires of the South Americans, and 
have ensured their prosperity in a progressive 
ratio. The United States of America offer a 
striking example in favour of the above hypo¬ 
thesis. The revolution they underwent, in 
achieving independence, was only in form : the 
manners, pursuits, and domestic policy of the 


22 


COLONIES. 


people remained the same as when they were 
colonists of England. Accustomed to self-go¬ 
vernments, to municipal laws, to the absence of 
passports and police, to the liberty of the press 
and freedom of commerce, the North Americans 
scarcely underwent a sensible change in replacing 
colonial government by a republic. No new 
modes of thought were called into action, no 
fettered energies were roused to unwonted exer¬ 
tion, on severing their union with Old England. 
They cast off a gentle constraint, a slight con¬ 
trol, but their newly-acquired freedom was no 
more, essentially, than that which they had 
always enjoyed. They replaced the English 
monarchical rule by the form of government the 
nearest approaching to it,—for the English con¬ 
stitution is a republic after the models of anti¬ 
quity and of the middle ages, with the simple 
super-addition of a limited dictator or a perpetual 
president, to prevent the vaultings of ambition : 
they found themselves, therefore, ready educated 
and trained for their new existence, and their 
country necessarily prospered. They could not 
have borne the democracy of later days at first: 
the change from a certain degree of supervision 
and military protection, and from the aristocratic 
influence of the mother country, to the will of 
the trading speculating multitude, would have 


COLONIES. 


23 


been too violent. Fortunately for them, a pure 
republic intervened, guided by the wise, the 
respected, and the tried of the land, and made 
the transition gradual and supportable, the 
movement being aided all the while by an 
extent of country which gave occupation to 
the enterprising and the lawless. Universal 
suffrage exercised in its wildest sense, joint- 
stock banks by hundreds, over-trading and 
lynch-law, would have been too much for the 
America of 1780—would have proved too vio¬ 
lent a change, if adopted at once, from English 
law, order, and solidity. Such is the nature of 
the storm, allowing for the difference of the 
countries, which the Spanish American colonies 
have had to contend with, owing to their misfor¬ 
tune of having entered on an entirely new exist¬ 
ence without previous training. 

Our road from Bremen-hafen was tolerably 
good, and as Mr. Karsten was son-in-law to the 
post-master of Bremen we drove along rapidly. 
The Hanoverian post is modelled after the 
Prussian system, which provides civility and 
regularity on the part of the employes, with 
ample conveniences for travellers. The drivers 
wear a uniform with the royal cipher worked 
in gold on one arm, and carry a bugle to 
announce their arrival at a station. The 



24 


BREMEN. 


♦ 

posting is reasonable : about one dollar (three 
shillings) per German mile (five English miles) 
for a pair of horses. At ten in the evening we 
rattled over the well paved, ill lighted, and 
silent streets of the free city of Bremen. My 
companion went to his home, after seeing me 
comfortably lodged in the Stadt Frankfort on 
the Platz. In the morning, I saw from my 
windows the troops of the republic drawn out 
for the amusement of an illustrious individual 
in the hotel, whose title escapes my recollection. 
They consisted of 200 well dressed men with 
a good band. In addition to a regular force the 
citizens are enrolled as a national guard. Bre¬ 
men was formerly fortified, but since the peace 
the ramparts have been converted into taste¬ 
ful walks by an arm of the river, which here 
winds very prettily. The absence of fortifica¬ 
tions is the city’s best defence : less temptation 
is offered for an army to remain. There would 
only be the inducement to levy contributions, 
and few towns I should imagine could afford a 
better one. Some of the citizens I heard are 
worth 100,000Z. and the whole place has an 
air of Burgher comfort, amply supplied with 
materials for eating, drinking, and smoking. 
Good cigars are to be had at Bremen. 

Of the eighty Hanse towns which leagued 


BREMEN. 


25 


0 

together to protect commerce against piracy 
and feudal overbearing, four remain—Ham¬ 
burgh, Bremen, Frankfort, and Lubech. The 
two first are tolerably independent. Frankfort is 
so no longer; its liberty is become like the toys 
which it manufactures. Foreign troops have 
garrisoned the place, * and it is always the seat 
of the high diplomatic police which observes 
the political barometer of Germany. Lubech is 
decayed. The government of Bremen is con¬ 
ducted in the spirit of that of Hamburgh— 
exclusiveness. The people, i. e. the class which 
lives by manual labour, has no share in it. 
The householders of each ward name delegates, 
who choose a certain number of senators from 
whom the burghermasters are taken, four in 
number. The burghermasters rule b} 7 turns, 
three months each. The office is for life. The 
oligarchical forms of the Hanse towns excite no 

* An echavfourree of some students and others at Frank¬ 
fort in 1833 to release some prisoners recently arrested for 
free speaking and writing, and in which the prisons were 
forced, caused an occupation of the city by 3000 Aus¬ 
trian and Prussian troops from the garrison of Mayence. 
About thirty individuals were sentenced to imprisonment 
at Mayence; some for ten years, others for fifteen years, 
and one poor devil for life. The disturbance in question 
was supposed at the time to have had a connexion with 
liberal movements in various parts of Germany. 


26 


BREMEN. 


loud complaints because the merchants have 
the tact to associate lawyers with them in the 
senate, and, as must be admitted, the labouring 
class is materially well off both in wages and 
relief. 

Bremen has ugly churches, plain dwelling- 
houses, substantial hospitals, and a bad museum, 
all deficient in architectural design. Most of 
the mercantile communities in modern days are 
similarly furnished. In Italy alone have traders 
as a rule been noble in spirit, and has commerce 
been elevated by the arts. Trade in that deli¬ 


cious clime was chiefly valued as a means to 
gratify refined pursuits, and followed apparently 
for the purpose of encouraging painting, sculp¬ 


ture, and literature. The Italian merchant of 
the middle ages was a superior being, such as is 
rarely seen now-a-days, save occasionally in 
England. Frankfort, too, has a worthy imitator 
in the liberal-minded Bethmann, whose museum, 
open gratis to all, gentle and ungentle, contains 
the Ariadne by Dannecker, a statue so lovely 
and true to nature, as to excite in the mind 
of the beholder the mingled feelings of sur¬ 
prise and admiration. When the cicerone after 
awhile admits light on it from above, through 
a crimson curtain, the marble appears to glow 
incarnate. One then understands the oft-told 





ARIADNE. 


27 


cicerone’s tale at Naples of the bewitched youth 
who became enamoured of the Venus Calipigi, 
and clasped the self-admiring beauty. The 
only fault which I shoutd be disposed to impute 
to so fair an object, is that the countenance is 
more that of an Apollo. The look of energy 
and the curled lip do not become Ariadne, 
who is never unconnected in our thoughts with 
the abandoned and disconsolate mourner on the 
shore of Naxos. 



28 


HANOVER. 


CHAPTER II. 

HANOVER-HOTEL-TRAVELLERS—TURKISH PASHA-OPERA 

— SOCIETY—HANOVERIAN ARMY-THE KING CONSTITU¬ 
TIONAL QUESTION OF HANOVER-REVENUE OF HANOVER. 

In ten hours we travelled from Bremen to Han¬ 
over on a good road, over a perfectly flat country. 
As we approached the capital, the scenery im¬ 
proved : we thought the environs beautiful from 
their contrast with the city, which is not enticing. 
Whatever it might have appeared to us, how¬ 
ever, we had no reason to complain personally, 
for the British hotel in the square is one of the 
best in Europe, and its master, Mr. Wessel, one 
of the most obliging and best informed of land¬ 
lords. He had followed various trades by sea 
and by land since he left his native place, Bre¬ 
men,—had been captain of a merchantman and 
harbour-master at St. Thomas’s—and could talk 
well of things and men. He was given to 
chemico-medical research : he had found, or 
supposed he had found, specifics for glanders, 






GENERAL SCHOLTEN. 


29 


hydrophobia, and plague. I took his recipe for 
the latter disorder to Constantinople, but had 
not the fortune to find a subject in my last visit 
to the eastern capital on whom to try the experi¬ 
ment. I met at the table d hbte the former 
superior of mine host at St. Thomas's, General 
Scholten, governor of the Danish West India 
islands. The General had just been to see Queen 
Victoria s coronation, and appeared to have been 
as much struck with the high charges at his hotel 
as at the ceremonial. Every thing was on a 
grand scale in London, he thought. General 
Scholten is well and honourably known as the 

i 

instrument of emancipating the negroes in the 
Danish islands ; but, as he observed to me, his 
own success could not be taken as an estimate of 
the facility of the measure generally, because, in 
addition to the small number of slaves in the 
Danish isles, the government, being despotic, 
had been enabled to keep the planters from 
abusing their power in the first place, and to 
make them concur afterwards in enlightened 
means for working out emancipation : to which 
must be added the advantage which the General 
possessed of an experience of twenty years as 
governor of the colony, united with a humane 
and honourable mind. He looked as fresh, and 
spoke as liberally as though he had resided all 


30 


ACHMED PASHA. 


that time amidst the genial fogs of London. 
There were also at the well supplied and respect¬ 
ably attended table d’hote an English lady of 
rank and her husband (a commoner) travelling 
on the continent. Some remarks, bordering on 
scandal, which were afterwards elicited by the 
difference of name between the gentleman and 
lady, made me think that English ladies simi¬ 
larly united would do well to drop theii title 
when abroad, and take their husband s name. 
Foreigners in general are not aware of our aris¬ 
tocratic usage, and thus a lady s character may 
have to pay for her vanity. I was glad to have 
an opportunity of explaining the circumstance 
away, and the Germans are good-natured enough 
to be easily persuaded of that which is right, 
although it was difficult to make them under¬ 
stand why a lady should prefer her departed 
husband’s name to that of her living half. 

Some Turkish costumes in the hotel attracted 
my attention. I accosted the wearers and found 
they were attendants of a Constantinople ac¬ 
quaintance, Achmed Fethi Pasha, who was 
passing through Hanover on his way to London. 
I announced myself, and passed a pleasant 
evening with the Ottoman. He was installed 
in the best rooms : he was folded upon a sofa, 
and had his pipes and coffee as much en regie 





ACIIMED PASHA. 


31 


as though he had been on his own divan. I 
was not sorry to inhale his ‘ salonica’ through 
the refined medium of cherry-stick and amber. 
His Excellency had recently been appointed 
resident ambassador at Paris : he was going to 
his post by a circuitous route, having travelled 
through Italy and part of Germany, and in¬ 
tended making a short stay in buyuk London 
(great London). The observations of orientals 
in Christendom are generally amusing from 
the naive ignorance which they often display: 
Achmed Pasha was however tolerably con¬ 
versant with ordinary topics, at the same time 
he expressed astonishment at having found so 
many crals (kings) in Europe, and appeared to 
think that most of them were hardly worth 
noticing. A Constantinopolitan seldom hears 
of any other countries than Russia, Austria, 
France, and England ; occasionally the Porte 
enters into a treaty of commerce with minor 
states, but as the terms are arranged by 
one of the great powers he thinks that the 
others are tributaries. As his own sublime 
padisha rules over so vast an empire, he has 
hardly any idea of a small one. Hence his 
wonder is £i*eat as he traverses Italy and Ger- 
many, where a day’s journey may take him 
through a couple of kingdoms : he sets them 


32 


ACHMED PASHA. 


down as little better than pashalicks under one 
or other of the great monarchs. Achmed in¬ 
formed me that since my departure from the 
east he had been governor of Magnesia, Aidin, 
etc., an extensive and important district in Asia 
Minor. “ A large and onerous charge,” I ob¬ 
served. “ Yes,” he said ; “ but you know,” he 
added \^ith a smile, “ we do not allow these 
things to trouble us much.” I learned from . 
him that Khismet (fate) had been busy with 


many of my Turkish friends : some had been 
executed, others exiled, a few had risen again 
from obscurity to high power, and like a true 
Osmanlee he talked as if" the chance of the 
latter counterbalanced the risk of the foimei. 


Such is ever the troubled tide of life in eastern 
waters, and it is not surprising that men onl^ 
think of enjoying the present and care little for 
the future. As Mehemet All s threat to declare 
independence was on the tapis, the pasha asked 
'me if our government would oppose him by force. 
I told him 1 supposed that hostile proceedings on 
our part, in such a case, would depend on the 
course which France might pursue. “ France,” 
replied the pasha, “ will do Turkey no good : has 
she not taken Algiers from us, is she not aiming 
at Tunis, and will she not be induced to march 
thence into Tripoli, and perhaps endeavour to 


ACIIMED PASHA. 


33 


obtain Egypt.?” 1 said that one mode to pre¬ 
vent that would be for the Porte to give Tripoli 
to the English, who would then prove a barrier 
to the French in Africa. The Pasha thought 
this a good idea. 

In the course of our conversation, Achmed 
indulged in a good wholesome Anti-Russian feel¬ 
ing, by exulting in the losses sustained by the 
Russians on the coast of Circassia as just reported 
in the papers with much exaggeration. He, 
nevertheless, did not entertain great hopes for 
the Circassians; lamenting in the same breath 
that the war between them and the Russians 
interfered with the Beauty-market of Stamboul : 
he said that the price of a pretty Circassian girl, 
fifteen years old; had risen to seventy purses 
(350 /.), in consequence of the strict blockade of 
the coast. With the deep sense of the beauties of 
nature, common to orientals, Achmed expressed 
his intention to go to Cologne, in order to* 
descend the Rhine, of which he had heard much; 
adding interrogatively, 4 4 Is it equal to the Bos¬ 
phorus?” “No,” I said, “there is nothing like 
that in the world : ” and my words found an echo 
in his bosom. He left Hanover next morning, 
and could not help quoting his country’s proverb 

in allusion to our meeting,—“Only mountains 

« 

never meet.” Being somewhat of a traveller, I 

D 


34 


HANOVER. 


feel the force of the adage daily. 1 rarely enter 
a town or embark in a steamer without encoun¬ 
tering some quondam associate, and the meeting, 
though but transitory, is never unattended with 
pleasure. I had also the luck to meet at the 
“ British hotel ” one of my fellow-passengers in 
the “Britannia,” Mr. Fenwick, the Consul for 
Hanover at Copenhagen. We were both stran¬ 
gers to Hanover, comparatively speaking, and 
were therefore of use to each other in the task 
of lionizing. The town, containing between 
30,000 and 40,000 inhabitants, is one of the 
oldest in Germany. Specimens of all kinds of 
architecture from the eleventh century to the 
present day are to be seen, excepting in the 
churches, which appear never to have changed 
their pristine deformity. Many of the gabled 
pointed roofs of the houses are very curious, 
while the antique appearance of the numerous 
sashes is contrasted by modern green blinds. 
Every window in Hanover has a green blind. 

I could not learn if this custom has arisen from 
a disposition to weak eyes. I certainly saw no 
evidence of any such among the inhabitants. 
Could the specimens of ancient architecture be 
spared, a conflagration would be of immense 
service to the interior of the town. The sight of 
the narrow crooked streets, not always inodorous, 


HANOVER. 


35 


and of crazy wooden houses, must have rejoiced 
Achmed Pashas heart, by recalling a Turkish 
town to him. Some modern streets, on the con¬ 
trary, are remarkably elegant, with handsome 
commodious houses, particularly the George and 
Frederick streets : new ones are to be laid out, 
and various other improvements are projected. 
We found that the presence of a court and di¬ 
plomatic corps was effecting a great deal for the 
ornamentation of Hanover, and that an improved 
taste and spirit were likely to descend to the 
municipality. The theatre is elegant inside, and 
being well patronized by the court and nobility, 
can boast of as good a company as any in Ger¬ 
many. The performances are chiefly German 
operas. As the dinner hour at Hanover is 
between two and four o’clock, from the court 
downwards, the society has plenty of time for 
the enjoyment of the opera: it forms the chief 
amusement of the evening, as very few of the 
Hanoverian families open their houses. I would 
not say that they are disinclined to society, but 
they certainly promote it less than in other cities of 
Germany; while at the same time few people are 
more calculated for it. Foreigners acknowledge 
this in the house of the accomplished Madame 
Scholte, which is always open for their reception. 

Their manners certainly are scrupulously defe- 

d2 


36 


II AN OV ETC. 


rential, and considerable etiquette is observed m 
the important articles of visits and introductions. 
Englishmen being unused to such strict observ¬ 
ances are liable to give offence unintentionally, 
and to think the natives odd, though when that 
slight barrier of ice is passed all is found to be 
warmth and kindness behind. It was related to 
me, in order to shew the ideas of Hanoverian 
society on this subject, that on the amiable Queen 
expressing her desire one day after dinner that 
an English gentleman who had dined at the 
palace on a short notice should be presented to 
her, the Chamberlain wished to excuse himself, 
because he himself had not been introduced to the 
stranger. He apparently did not know the maxim 
common to Arabia and England, which incul¬ 
cates that they who eat together are no longer 
strangers. These and other remnants of mid¬ 
dle aged Germany will disappear under the 
influence of a court of English origin. 

In many essential points, however, Hanover 
is already very English. Most of the upper 
class speak our language fluently, and are well 
acquainted with England, as is to be expected, 
considering their long connexion with it. There 
is an English club, where all papers are taken 
in without regard to politics. The absence of 
passports and police annoyances is veiy pleasing 


HANOVER. 


37 


and reminiscent to an Englishman, the more 
so because unexpected in Germany. I traversed 
the country at various times, and was never 
asked for my passport anywhere. The sanctity 
of letters too in Hanover is peculiarly English. 
The shameful custom of making free with the 
correspondence of the public was not unknown in 
Hanover more than in other parts of Germany: 
King Ernest, on his accession, denounced the 
practice in the most unqualified manner. The 
army is essentially English in tone and feeling, 
and from its noble services under the Duke 
almost considers itself as still forming part of 
the British army. I have nowhere seen such 
a profusion of peninsula clasps and Waterloo 
medals; and the wearers pride themselves on 
them infinitely more than on all their ribbons 
and crosses. Many of the veterans of the 
“ legion” speak English so purely, and have so 
English an address, as to make a stranger doubt 
to what country they belong. 1 had the satis¬ 
faction of making the acquaintance of several 
officers who had served with my father's brigade 
in Spain. I also met with the distinguished 
officer who was the means of extricating Lord 
Wellington from an imminent risk at the siege 
of Burgos. His Lordship, while coursing one 
forenoon, was led by puss along the foot of the 


HANOVER. 


glacis. Some shots were fired at him, which 
he disregarded. He had nearly advanced fai 
enough to be cut of! by a sortie, which the enemy 
was preparing at a postern gate, when the com¬ 
mander of the Hanoverian outpost in that 
direction, who had been watching the sport, 
perceived the trap, and advanced with his party 
to give warning of the danger, and to cover his 
chief. From being the pursuer, Wellington 
became the pursued. A squadron of trench 
cavalry darted out at the moment after the 
English general, who galloped off for his camp, 
covered by the Hanoverians. A wooden bridge 
intervened between the town and the English 
lines. By the time Lord Wellington had reached 
it, the French were close at the heels of his 
escort. The latter galloped over, hotly pursued, 
then reined up sharply on either side of the 
road, and as the French came on, received them 
with back-handed cuts. The effect was over¬ 
powering : each man in that position was equal 
to ten. The French were so astounded at this 
unexpected manoeuvre that they could neither 
check their horses on the bridge, nor parry the 
blows, which, like those of Csesar’s soldiers at 
Pharsalia, were levelled at the faces of the 
enemy. The narrow pass was covered with 
their bodies; the remainder retreated, and the 


HANOVER. 


39 


Hanoverians gaily trotted on without the loss of 
a man. “ That’s a real hussar trick,” said 
Wellington, as he observed the clever feat of 
arms, done in the twinkling of a sabre. 

The Hanoverian troops have distinguished 
themselves in many parts of the world, and are 
reckoned the best in Germany. They co-operated 
with the Venetians in the Morea in the time of the 
Elector, afterwards George I. of England. They 
sustained a brilliant reputation in the German 
wars of the eighteenth century. They gallantly 
served an unhappy cause in America. They 
could not defend their country from the French 
invasion in the commencement of the present 
century, but determined not to serve the invader: 
faithful to their sovereign, on being marched 
over the Elbe and disbanded in 1803, they re¬ 
paired to England, and were there formed into 
the King’s German legion, whose services have 
been ably recorded by Major Beamish. They 
amply avenged the subjection of their country 
by following the French, never losing their trail , 
from Lisbon to the crowning field of Waterloo, 
where, as is well known, they highly distin¬ 
guished themselves. An elegant Corinthian 
pillar, surmounted by a statue of Victory, in the 
Waterloo Platz at Hanover, commemorates their 
exertions on that glorious day, and records the 


40 


HANOVER. 


numbers who tell. Such recollections, in con¬ 
nexion with England, naturally caused the vete¬ 
rans of the Hanoverian army to feel a serrement 
de cceur at leaving off the English uniform: two 
regiments only retained the untarnished red* at 
the period of my visit to Hanover, and it did 
one s eyes good to look at them. Two reasons 
prompted the king to change the uniform, and 
the Hanoverian officers assured me that both 
were satisfactory. One is that the Hanoverian 
troops (Hanover furnishing a contingent of 
10,000 men for the confederation of the Rhine) 
are liable to be called in to act immediately 
with the Prussians : the other is, the superior 
economy of the Prussian uniform. The latter is 
of consideration in a small state where officers in 
general depend on their pay. English appoint¬ 
ments require English means. The veterans of 
the Hanoverian army are well off, since they 
enjoy English half-pay m addition to their own 
full-pay, but the others have only the latter, 
which is not more than sufficient for their mess 
and dress. Thp expenses of the mess of an 
Hanoverian regiment is restricted (as in the 
Prussian army) to ten dollars—thirty shillings— 
a-head per month. 

* Red was the national colour of' Hanover before its 
connexion with England. Quere , Was the English army 
dressed in red before the accession of the House of Guelph ? 




HANOVER. 


41 


The Hanoverian army is formed on the Land- 
wehr system: it is about 18,000 strong, and is 
composed of fine able-bodied young men. The 
king is the commander-in-chief. His Majesty 
has four Hanoverian aids-de-camp, and two 
English extra aids-de-camp. His attention to 
the comforts and condition of the men has 
added to the efficiency of the army, and his dis¬ 
regard, as far as is practicable, of the prejudices 
of caste will not fail to endear him also to the 
officers. As far as I could perceive, the army 
appeared devoted to their sovereign, although 
to judge by appearances his Majesty had little 
or no occasion for its devotion. His person was 
quite unguarded: two sentries stood at the gate 
of the palace for form's sake, but every person 
entered uninterrogated. He was to be seen 
walking or riding every day attended by the 
aid-de-camp on duty and followed by one ser¬ 
vant. His Majesty had adopted the German 
regal custom of being perfectly accessible at all 
hours: no person was denied to him in his 
cabinet, where he transacted business daily from 
seven in the morning till two or three in the 
afternoon, and I have more than once seen a 
humbly dressed individual stop him in the 
street, and be listened to for a quarter of an hour 
with affability. Englishmen are more struck with 



42 HANOVER. 

this manner of acting the king than foieigneis 
are, on account of the idol-like seclusion of 
their own sovereign. 1 believe that only in 
England as a rule is the sovereign accompanied 
by a military escort. The Emperor of Russia 
posts alone in a kibitka, and the good old 
Emperor Francis of Austria used to walk about 
Vienna with his wife under his arm. Only 
in England is a person out of the privileged 
circle pounced on, by a police officer, if he 
presume to offer a petition to Majesty with¬ 
out going through prescribed forms of eti¬ 
quette : only there does he incur the risk oi 
being charged with insanity if he dares to ap¬ 
proach near enough in the open air to address 
liis gracious sovereign. King Ernest wisely 
adopted the custom of his German colleagues, 
that of sitting, as it were, at the gate of his 
palace, as the kings of sacred history did, and 
he soon found the advantage of it. His personal 
demeanour, impartiality, and devoted attention 
to public business, were fast effacing any un¬ 
favourable impression which the Hanoverians 
might have imbibed from a portion of the 
English press. 1 will not say that they had 
allowed themselves to be thus influenced, for 
the Hanoverians are deeply attached to the 
Guelphic race ; but it would not be surprising 




HANOVER. 43 

if they had given some ear to the torrent of 
abuse and unfounded accusation poured on the 
Duke of Cumberland for upwards of twenty 
years; and unfortunately, the first exercise of 
his Majesty’s authority —the annulment of the 
fundamental act of 1833—was calculated, at the 
moment, to give weight to the assertions of party 
respecting his political creed. I believe that no 
person more regretted than the king the neces¬ 
sity of recurring to the constitution of 1819, 
and no one could have more earnestly endea¬ 
voured to avert it by pointing out to his royal 
predecessor the consequences of the new consti¬ 
tution. William IV. was doubtlessly mistaken 
in the precise nature of the constitutional^^ 
which he signed as king of Hanover. We may 
readily presume that the important changes in 
England within the two preceding years had 
prevented him from giving mature attention to 
his hereditary states. It has been inferred by 
some, from certain antecedents, that certain 
parties in England favoured the “fundamental 
act of 1833,” as a means to embarrass the 
Duke of Cumberland on his accession, and 
render his name more unpopular in England ; 
on the presumption that he, or ally other prince 
in his position, would be constrained to reject 
it. If that be true, they were not deceived. 


v 


44 HANOVER. 

The subversion of any kind ol constitution, by 
any one soever, could not fail to excite the 
deepest animadversion in England—to stimulate 
political enmity, and even to weaken friendship, 
owing to the venerable and time-hallowed asso¬ 
ciations connected in Englishmen’s minds with 
the word constitution, which in our country is 
the expression of the growth of a people from 
comparative barbarism to the highest stage ol 
civilization,—is the comprehensive term for all 
that which renders man an independent, erect, 
and reasoning being,—giving to his moral and 
intellectual qualities their fullest expansion. 
The distance from this to the constitutions of 
the nineteenth century is wide indeed. Au 
Englishman would quaintly demean himself 
at the idea of his constitution being written 
on a piece of parchment in such a year. 
His constitution cannot be indited. There 
may be acts to settle the succession ; there 
may be privileges conferred on certain classes; 
but the English constitution is undefinable. 
The people feel, see, hear it in all and every 
thing around them—in the past and preent— 
while unable to explain its nature. It is to 
them as the air : they cannot describe its pro¬ 
perties, or reduce it to its original elements; 
they only feel it in their existence,—an essence 





HANOVER. 


45 


co-existent with them,—the bequest of their 
ancestors, and the heritage of their children. 
When, therefore, they hear of a monarch reject¬ 
ing a constitution, they think of laws, usages, 
and rights—the cemented edifice of centuries— 
overturned by one fell stroke ; they fancy a free 
people suddenly reduced to serfage. By such 
and similar reasoning, natural to Englishmen, 
was King Ernest’s first public act thought of in 
England by many persons, and condemned by 
some without further inquiry. He had touched 
a “ constitution !” That person, however, must 
be inadequately acquainted with Germany,— 
where civil and religious liberty has flourished 
longer than in most countries, where the rights 
of man and the law of property are perfectly 
understood, and where literature has acquired 
for itself a position and a respect which it 
nowhere else enjoys,—who imagines that any 
violation of real constitutional rights would be 
tolerated for a moment; and still less must he 
know the devoted, soul-inspired character of 
the Germans, if he supposes that the monarch 
who should attempt to subvert any time-hal¬ 
lowed institution, or meddle with any privilege 
dear to the people, would be allowed to reign. 
The public voice of Germany, to which the 
haughtiest emperors have bowed, and which 



HANOVER. 


46 

conquered Napoleon, would bear him resistless 
from the throne. 

Up to the general peace Hanover had no con¬ 
stitution, though she had constitutional rights 
in common with all Germany. The country 
had been considered as a patrimonial domain 
appertaining to the English monarchs, who 
governed it, or rather left it to be governed, 
according to custom : the mildness of their rule 
may be deduced from the fact that the revenues 
of the family property were generally devoted to 
state purposes.* That Hanover has not im¬ 
proved in a greater ratio may be accounted for 
by the inertness of a privileged body of no¬ 
bility unless stimulated by a popular assembly; 
and the government of the country under the 
Georges remained in the hands of the nobility. 
The paraphernalia of the electoral court was 
kept up : chamberlains, equerries, stewards, 
etc., enjoyed their pay and appointments ex¬ 
actly as though their sovereign lived amongst 
them. These things were abuses, and required 
to be remedied. They would probably have 
been so by the will of the sovereign, but 

* This revenue was chiefly applied to the maintenance of 
the troops, by which means the Elector could enter largely 
into the wars of Germany without raising extra taxes. The 
seven years’ war encumbered the property with a debt. 


HANOVER. 


47 


George I. promised to maintain all the officers 
of the court when he ascended the English 
throne, and his successors respected the pro¬ 
mise. This was carrying too far the sanctity of 
a promise, all sacred as that of a king ought 
to be. Hanover had always had provincial 
assemblies or parliaments, but a central re¬ 
presentation was required in order to correct 
antiquated usages (become abuses) and to excite 
the energies of the people. The re-arrange¬ 
ment of the states of Western Germany in 
1814-15 provided for this : written constitutions 
were promised to most of the states, and were 
given to some of them. That for Hanover, con¬ 
cocted, I believe, in great measure, by Count 
Munster, took effect in 1819. It consisted of 
two chambers. The first chamber was at once 
elective and hereditary: the gentlemen of the 
provinces elected so many peers, each of whom 
was required to have a net income in real pro¬ 
perty of 600 dollars (100/.), while all nobles 
in possession of a majorat of 1200/. a-year 
took their seats by right of birth; the number 
in the first chamber amounted to forty-four. 
The second chamber was composed of de¬ 
puties from the towns and provinces with the 
addition of eleven deputies to represent the 
order of peasants; -seventy-two members in 


48 


HANOVER. 


all. The qualification for a deputy was fixed 
at an annual income of three hundred dollars 
(50/.) ; and nearly the same amount was neces¬ 
sary to entitle a man to the elective franchise, 
excepting' in the election ol a peasant, where 
every man who owned a hearth was entitled 
to vote. The second chamber could not pro¬ 
ceed to business unless thirty-seven members 
were present. This last regulation surprises 
one: more than the half is required in Hanovei, 
while in England the sixteenth part of the 
whole number constitutes a house. The na¬ 
tural term of a parliament was fixed at six 
sessions ; there might be two or more sessions 
in one year. Wdiile the parliament sat each, 
deputy was to receive three dollars (nine shill¬ 
ings) a-day from the treasury. Ministers might 
but be elected as members of either chamber, 
could sit ex-officio: the king was to commu¬ 
nicate with the chamber through his com¬ 
missary. The chambers were not empowered 
to originate laws: they discussed the royal 
propositions with the right to reject them. This 
constitution was thankfully received by the 
Hanoverians, and was to the full as liberal as 
any of the constitutions given to other states of 
Germany It met all the grievances chiefly 
complained of: gave the people power to check 


HANOVER. 


49 


court abuses and control the budget, conferred 
on them the right of discussion, and enabled 
them to resist the introduction of bad laws. 
The constitution however fell short of the results 
which the people had expected: they did not 
merely wish to raise themselves in political 
importance, but desired also to depress the pri¬ 
vileged classes: their ambition was not con¬ 
fined to obtain power to benefit their country, 
they aspired also to lower the importance of the 
nobility. Hanover and Austria alone in Ger¬ 
many had escaped having the landmarks of 
society washed away by the torrent of the 
French revolution. In Hanover the prefix 

V 

Von had retained its pristine force, and kept 
up the line of demarcation between the upper 
and middle classes. The latter sought to re¬ 
move this, but the constitution of 1819 afforded 
them not the means. The chief obstacle lay 
in the power of the crown arising from its 
wealth, which, being administered by noble 
curators, gave the first Chamber a supposed 
undue influence. It was assumed that the elec¬ 
tions among the orders of gentlemen and of 
peasants might be always influenced by it, and 
thus the representatives of the borough consti¬ 
tuency be kept in a minority ,\ The revolution 
of July 1830 gave the party in question an 


50 


HANOVER. 


opportunity of making a demonstration: some 
partial disturbances took place, which were 
promptly appeased, and then the question of 
remodelling the constitution was seriously agi¬ 
tated. It was remodelled in effect, and ushered 
into existence as the constitutional act of 1833. 
The ancient mode of adapting the elective 
franchise to the various classes of society, re¬ 
stricting it in some and extending it in others, 
was departed from in favour of an approxima~ 
tion to the French system of arrondissements , 

. making the right depend directly on means. 
This disfranchised the scot and lot peasant 
voters. But the principal variation—and a 
very remarkable one too—lay in the alienation 
for state purposes of the family property of the 
crown, substituting a civil list instead, and the 
surrender of the right of removing magistrates 
and other civil officers without trial. This 
important change was cunningly devised, and 
it was calculated to ensure the supremacy of 
the middle class, since the crown —the chief 
support of the nobility—would have been thence¬ 
forward dependent on the commons. It does not 
require many words to impress on the mind of 
an Englishman the anomalous nature of this pro¬ 
position. No man in England would undertake 
the office of minister of the crown without the 


HANOVER. 


51 


power—to be exercised of course with extreme 
caution—of removing any officer at will, especi¬ 
ally in the civil departments. The power is even 
exercised over military and naval officers. In this 
respect, his native country offered an argument to 
King Ernest; it enabled him to ask how he could 
be expected to govern a country, new to constitu¬ 
tional forms, on terms which would be declined 
in England ? and he might well say that he 
owed it to his subjects as well as to himself not 
to entrust particular classes with an exemption 
from the control of authority which would not 
be tolerated in constitutional England. The 
clause respecting the alienation of the royal 
domain was of higher import, since it in¬ 
volved a question of the rights of property 
which are as sacred in the sovereign as in the 
person of an individual. The royal domain 
of Hanover is not the property of the state, as 
persons in England have supposed it to be, rea¬ 
soning by analogy: it is and has always been 
the family estate of the Guelphs, and as such 
could not be taken from them any more than 
the property of any Hanoverian gentleman. 
The Guelphs did not hold it as sovereigns of 
Hanover, but as Hanoverians: it was never 
held contingent on fulfilling a certain office, 
or derived in any way from the people. The 

e 2 


52 


HANOVER. 


Guelphs were originally simple proprietors, 
then counts of the empire, and rose to electoral 
power by the force of property: their pioperty 
made the state of Hanover. Were Hanover to 
be absorbed by Prussia, or otherwise cease to 
exist as a separate country, the Guelphs would 
still be one of the most important families in 
Germany by virtue of landed property. 

In England, on the contrary, the crown pro¬ 
perty belongs to the state, and is vested in the 
wearer of the crown, that crown having been 
given by the English people, and no personal 
claim whatever can be made on it by the sove¬ 
reign : the Plantagenets, the Tudors, the Stuarts 
enjoyed it before it passed to the Guelphs; yet 
such is the respect in England for even the 
semblance of the rights of property, that on a 
new sovereign ceding certain crown property in 
exchange for a civil list, a special reservation is 
made in favour of the successor. England in 
this case also offered an argument for King 
Ernest’s guidance. He stood firmly on his in¬ 
dividual rights, and denied the power of the 
estates of the kingdom to appropriate the pro¬ 
perty of the Guelph family, without the consent 
of the Agnats. The parliament of a constitu¬ 
tional country is considered omnipotent; but 
the common sense of every man tells him that 



HANOVER. 


53 


its omnipotence has bounds: if these bounds are 
passed,—power becomes despotism, which it is 
every man’s right to resist. The English par¬ 
liament cannot deprive a man of his property or 
his birthright; it cannot subvert the inherent 
rights of the people ; were it to do so, resistance 
on the part of the oppressed would be legal, and 
though unsuccessful, they would still have jus¬ 
tice on their side. That which the English 
parliament could not dream of doing, even to 
the humblest individual in the realm, the Hano¬ 
verian parliament thought lightly of. It appro¬ 
priated the property of the Guelphs, the most 
ancient in the country, to the use of the state; 
as well might it have confiscated the estate of 
Count Wangenheim, or of Baron Steinberg. 
That property amounted to 180,000/. a-year in 
land and houses ; in return for it, the King was 
to receive a civil list of 60,000/. a-year: to give 
up, in short, a freehold property for a pension 
of one-third of the rental. I grant that when 
a civil list was first invented, “Candide” was 
a fiction; but now that kings are oftentimes 
shuttlecocks, at the mercy of popular breath, 
and travel about (de facto) incognito, as little 
thought of as Richard Cromwell used to be, it 
is practising delusion too much to ask of a sove¬ 
reign what no one of his subjects would consent 


54 


HANOVER. 


to, viz. to alienate a certainty for an uncertainty, 
exchange lands fenced in by usage and heredi¬ 
tary rights, for a pension dependent on a chang¬ 
ing assembly. If an individual were to commit 
such an act, his family would institute a suit de 
lunatico inquirendo. This arrangement, more¬ 
over, was totally without precedent. The sove¬ 
reigns of Darmstadt, of Baden, of Saxony, etc., 
in giving constitutions, allowed civil lists to be 
granted them by their commons, but in addition 
to their private property. The King of the French 
and the King of Holland receive civil lists, retain¬ 
ing their immense family possessions at the same 
time. King Ernest declined to burden the coun¬ 
try with a civil list : he only wanted his own. 
His own personal rights were not the only ones 
jeopardied by the constitution of 1833 : his son 
and his brothers were concerned, and a monarch 
is as responsible as the meanest citizen for the 
good or ill fortune of his family: he is equally 
bound to secure the welfare of his children, as 

to protect the laws of his country. 

Thus, on ascending the throne, King Ernest 
found himself fettered by an act, passed shortly 
before his accession, which destroyed his indi¬ 
vidual rights, and materially fettered the exer¬ 
cise of constitutional authority. It would have 
been useless to discuss the question in parlia- 



HANOVER. 


55 


ment, because the Commons of Hanover would 
not have given up so good a bargain ; it would 
have been still more useless to protest, because 
there was no one to decide the question. His 
only resource was to cut the gordian knot. He 
declared the constitution of 1833 unformal and 
inexecutable, and recurred to the constitution 
of 1819. No persons besides those directly in¬ 
terested, blamed the principle on which the 
King acted; no voice could approve of the doc¬ 
trine which legalized the alienation of secular 
property, since what had been done to one 
might be repeated on others by the same autho¬ 
rity ; but his abrupt mode of proceeding was 
criticised by a few, who averred that by sum¬ 
moning the Chambers under the “act” of 
1833, and treating with them, all his wishes 
would have been acceded to ; in other words, the 
constitution would have been purged a Vamiable, 
of the objectionable clauses. This in the opinion 
of many would have been highly impolitic, as 
well as have betrayed timidity. By convening 
the Chambers under the “ act ” of 1833, the 
King would have thereby acknowledged the new 
constitution; had the Commons then refused 
to rescind the obnoxious clauses, His Majesty 
would have stood in a ridiculous and humiliating 
position. He would have lost caste and charac- 


56 


HANOVER. 


ter. He must either have consented to remain 
a pensioner, and powerless, or, by then thiowin^ 
the constitution overboard, have shewn to the 
world that he had summoned his Chambers 
merely with the hope of cajoling them. He 
adopted the straightforward course, which was 
the only prudent one, for there is no reason for 
supposing that the second Chamber would have 
consented to the required modification of the 
constitution of 1833. The Commons were 
gainers by it in too great a degree. By giving 
60,000/. a-year for 180,000/. a-year, they re¬ 
duced the budget by one-sixth, as well as 
rendered the sovereign dependent on them, and 
the abasement of the nobility would have fol¬ 
lowed. History has never furnished an example 
of a popular assembly yielding one iota of 
power. There is no reason, at the same time, 
for supposing that King Ernest would have 
suffered materially in his own royal rights 
and personal self-love by the ascendency which 
the act of 1833 would have given to his Com¬ 
mons : adulation and congratulation would have 
attended him in Hanover, and his conduct would 
have been a theme of praise both in Germany 
and in England, though there would not have 
been wanting some in the latter country to 
accuse him of inconsistency. Had he consulted 



H ANOVEIl. 


57 


Iiis own personal tranquillity, lie would have 
adhered to the constitution of 1833, certain that 
the increased power thereby acquired by the 
third estate would not have had time to develope 
itself during his life. But then he would have 
compromised his successor. Revolution, or at 
all events a state of things which would have 
warranted an armed intervention on the part of 
Prussia, would have been the result, sooner or 
later, of the unequal balance of power arising 
from the constitution of 1833. 

The King’s resolution was not generally ac¬ 
quiesced in certainly : seven professors of the 
university of Gottingen remonstrated and refused 
to swear allegiance to him. Their language 
was intemperate, and they sent their protest to 
be reprinted at Paris, which latter proceeding 
was censured even by their friends. As they 
persisted in refusing to swear allegiance, the 
government was obliged to remove them from 
their chairs. 

Their cause was warmly espoused in Germany 
at first; but as soon as people began to consider 
the question, the interest about them subsided. 
It was self-evident that their refusal to swear 
allegiance was incompatible with their retention 
of office, and that the government had no alter- 


58 


HANOVER. 


native but to dismiss them.* This was the 
extent of the active opposition raised against 
the King’s non-acceptance of the constitution of 
1833. A passive resistance followed, by several 
of the borough constituencies declining to elect 
members under the constitution of 1819. This 
has proved exceedingly embarrassing, but has 
not checked the march of government, or caused 
any popular excitement: each year a sufficient 
number of members has been returned to form a 
chamber, and to vote the budget.! The consent¬ 
ing members have not neglected their duty the 
taxes have been reduced since King Ernest s 

* None of the above-mentioned professors were Hano¬ 
verians by birth, and therefore their opposition was scarcely 
to be expected in so marked a way. Two of them, Mr. 
Dahlmann and Mr. Elwart, were highly distinguished in 
various branches of science and literature. Mr. Dahlmann s 
reputation is European. The removal of these two gentle¬ 
men was a great loss to the university, and it was feared 
that a diminution of students would take place in conse¬ 
quence. This, however, did not prove to be the case. 
There were more students at the university of Gottingen in 
the year between May 1838 and May 1839, than there had 

been in several preceding years. 

f The revenue of Hanover is 6,000,000 of dollars, about 
900,000j. The expenditure, including the interest of the 
public debt, is about 5,700,000 dollars a year. The debt 
of Hanover was chiefly occasioned by the occupation of 
the country by the French in the present century. 





HANOVER. 59 

accession, and the general prosperity of the 
country has increased. The King has made 
overtures to his chambers to conciliate the con¬ 
stitutions of “19” and “33” — to adopt a 
medium between them—and it is to be hoped 
for the sake of the country that they will be 
accepted. 


j 


60 


TRAVELLERS. 


CHAPTER III. 


COMPANIONS — HALSBERSTADT—ACCIDENT — EDUCATION — 

-HALLE-LEIPSIC-DRESDEN-AMERICANS CULM 

_TOPLITZ-PRAGUE—HISTORIC NOTICE- POST - TRAVEL¬ 
LING. 

First Lieutenant Von Haeseler, of the third 
regiment of Prussian hussars, proposed to post 
with me from Hanover to Halsberstadt. Mr. 
Von Haeseler had been aid-de-camp to the King 
of Hanover when Duke of Cumberland in his 
capacity of General in the Prussian army, and 
still wore the coveted feather and sash signifi¬ 
cative of staff honours. He had come to Hanover 
to pay his devoirs , and after partaking of the 
hospitality of the court for a fortnight, was about 
to return to his regiment at Berlin. He received 
six hundred dollars a-year from the King’s privy 
purse, which amounted to his Prussian pay. His 
twenty-five years’ cross shewed that advance¬ 
ment in the Prussian cavalry was as slow as in 
other countries. After thirty years’ service a 




TRAVELLERS. 


61 


Prussian officer may retire on a slender appoint¬ 
ment; till then he must serve. Twenty-five 
years’ service—one year’s active service counts 
as two years—entitle an officer to wear a cross 
with the number 25 on it. This distinction 
seems to be rather a disadvantage than other¬ 
wise : it is as if a lady were to wear a medal 
indicating the number of seasons since she came 
out. A Frankfort merchant asked leave to 
accompany us, there being no regular convey¬ 
ance to Halsberstadt. We agreed, and left Han¬ 
over at five a.m., August 27th. The morning 
was cold, and made us glad to sit down to a 
good breakfast at Hundlesheim. Thence we 
soon arrived at the frontier of Prussia, where 
we were detained some time by the inspection of 
the custom-house. Our companion, being in 
company with officers, tried to pass off as no 
merchant, but, unluckily, one of his boxes fell 
as the porter was taking it down, and the lid 
opening unbidden disclosed an assortment of 
samples. This occasioned a laugh at his expense, 
as his motive for concealing his calling was 
attributed by the douaniers (soldiers) to the 
laudable vanity of appearing to belong to the 
military service, which carries great weight in 
Prussia. On passing the farther frontier, into 
Austria, the distinction ceases, military rank 


62 


HALSBERSTADT. 


being no more thought of there than in England ; 
civil rank has the precedence. They relate an 
anecdote, in allusion to this, of the Emperor 
Nicholas at ToplitzHis Majesty observed a 
young countess at a ball refuse the hand of an 
officer, with an air as though she considered the 
request presumptuous, and much scandalized at 
such a slight being offered, reproved her by 
taking his daughter up to the rejected soldier, re¬ 
questing him to dance with the Princess instead. 
Se non b vero b ben trovato; this is in accord¬ 
ance with the respect attached to the military 
caste in Russia,—the only caste, it may be said, 
which exists in that empire, since Tartar princes 
of royal lineage, and Boyars with armies of 
serfs, are nothing without epaulettes. At eight 
in the evening we reached Halsberstadt, and 
alighted at the Prince Eugene, an inn which I 
can recommend for good beds—rare articles in 
Germany. A German bed is contrived for dis¬ 
comfort ; the sides hit the occupant’s elbows, and 
the foot-board checks his feet; the coverlet is 
too short and too narrow ; the whole appears to 
be managed to prevent a man from acquiring 
the pernicious habit of over-sleeping. Halsber¬ 
stadt is a good-sized town, with 15000 inhabi¬ 
tants, exclusive of two battalions of infantry and 
two squadrons of cuirassiers, generally quartered 




HALSBERSTAPT. 


63 


in it. The churches are irregularly built, and 
decidedly ugly, disfigured with towers, sur¬ 
mounted by twin spires. The environs are 
pretty, with gardens and promenades as all over 
Germany, where the recreation of the middle 
and lower classes is invariably provided for. 

My companions having departed for Berlin in 
the eilwagen , I left Halsberstadt in the evening, 
hoping to sleep through the night; but an awk¬ 
ward rencontre with a wagen , produced by the 
carelessness of the smoking postillions, awoke 
me unceremoniously, and deposited my vehicle 
in a ditch. My forced exit caused me a severe 
injury in the shoulder, which plagued me for 
months, notwithstanding skilful homoeopathic 
treatment afterwards at Vienna. We progressed 
slowly till eight o’clock, when we stopped at a 
small town to breakfast and get the carriage set 
to rights. I also required assistance personally, 
but my indifferent German failed in obtaining it. 
Germans never understand a foreigner talking 
German, unless he hits the exact pronunciation, 
unlike Frenchmen, who readily make out bad 
French. There were several persons in the eat¬ 
ing room of the hostelry ; seeing their civil in¬ 
tentions, I addressed them in various languages 
picked up in my wandering life, but all to no 
purpose. As a last resource I rubbed up a few 


G 4 


LATIN. 


words of Latin which had been lying rusting in 
a corner of my brain since my metamorphosis 
from a school-boy to a middy, proud of his dirk 
and his authority over men, and threw them at 
a lank-haired, blackish-coated individual who 
was ensconced in a corner, waiting for an til- 
wag en. The words roused him: he ransacked 
his brain in return, and pulled out about as much 
as I knew. We were soon, it is true, “ au bout 
de notre Latin,” but it served my purpose never¬ 
theless. I do not know what was paid for teach¬ 
ing me Latin, but I know that this is the only 
advantage I ever derived from my schooling. 
Gentlemen’s sons in England are often incon¬ 
sistently educated, through an adherence to 
antiquated routine. They have to make their 
way through the present active busy world, and 
are only instructed in the lore of 1800 years ago. 
Their own tongue and their neighbours’ tongues, 
the arts and the sciences, are unthought of; their 
education is comprised in Latin and Greek, 
which, in nineteen cases out of twenty, are for¬ 
gotten in a few years. 

I suppose it was in allusion to this custom 
that Lord Bacon used to say that every man 
who distinguishes himself receives two distinct 
educations: one which he gets at school, the 
other which he gives himself. What a foun- 




EDUCATION. 


65 

dation for happiness and prosperity might be 
laid in the weary plodding years of dogearing 
Latin Dictionaries which boys go through in 
fashionable schools. They feel, on entering the 
scene of life, that much precious time has been 
lost on attainments which are rarely if ever of ser¬ 
vice to them. I believe the system is a little better 
ordered now; men begin to see that a soldier 
may learn his trade without having read Caesar’s 
Commentaries, an agriculturist thrive without 
having scanned the Georgies and Bucolics, and 
a sailor navigate a ship without having studied 
the Punic naval wars in Latin. In my time we 
were all ground on the same stone, and the 
recollection raises a smile. I dare say many 
of my readers can record motives for a similar 
feeling respecting their early instruction. Mine 
was received at a celebrated establishment not 

many miles from Brighton, kept by Dr.-: 

kind hearted gentleman ! he was a gentleman 
every inch of him, and no one who had imbibed 

•j * 

first ideas under him could ever be otherwise, 
though I say it who should not. He was a 
sportsman of the old stamp, loving good cheer 
and tormented with gout, and a classical scholar 
of the first water: he would indulge—to our 
juvenile astonishment—over the pages of Virgil 
and Horace as keenly as we did afterwards over 


F 



66 


education. 


those of Shakspeare and Byron. He fed and 
physicked his pupils well, bathed them periodi¬ 
cally in the sea, and flogged them occasionally, 
made them indite a letter once or twice a half- 
year to their mothers, and sent them home in the 
holidays with rosy cheeks and a good account of 
their Latinity. What parent could desire more ? 
The school was a preparatory one: so when my 
stars decided that “ the sea, the sea, the rolling 
sea” was to be more than a song for me, he was 
desired to prepare me for the navy. I have often 
thought since how truly puzzled the good Doctor 
must 0 have been, seeing the way he set about 
it. I already knew something of Latin, scarcely 
knowing that Rome still existed anywhere, 
and could repeat the Greek alphabet ignorant 
of the existence of a country called Greece. 
These acquirements would not he guessed for¬ 
ward me much at sea. He wrote to his book¬ 
seller, and down came two elegantly bound 
volumes, called the “ Polite Preceptor,” con¬ 
taining a summary of all things in a few pages 
devoted to each: there were some to history, 
some to geography, some to botany, some to 
architecture, some to chemistry, some to philo¬ 
sophy, some to morality, and about six pages to 
geometry. These six pages were given to me 
to pore over and extract what l could out ot 


EDUCATION. 


67 


them; in consequence the book ever afterwards 
opened at geometry. That was all the idea 
entertained of a practical nautical education 
in a celebrated classical school. Many youths 
enter the army without even that inkling of any 
one branch of science relating to their profes¬ 
sion. Luckily, before too late, it was discovered 
that a knowledge of the four first rules of arith¬ 
metic, and some acquaintance with English 
construction, were necessary for passing into the 
Naval College : I was therefore removed to a 
tutor’s for a few months to obtain that plebeian 
knowledge. What a commentary on educa¬ 
tion !—that misunderstood word—which, if it 
means any thing, means the qualifying an indi¬ 
vidual for his part in life,—making his studies 
and habits bear on his future prospects. The 
Prussians begin to see that their brilliant educa¬ 
tional system may be worked out too far, in 
other words may 7 be misdirected. I was much 
struck at the poor-house at Mayence, in August 
1837, with the acquirements of the children. 
Two of the boys in particular displayed know¬ 
ledge which a peer’s son might have been proud 
of: they wrote French and English correctly 7 , 
drew tolerably well, and were acquainted with 
the principles of music. The master, perceiving 
me interested with them, observed that such 

f 2 


G8 


education. 


boys caused much anxiety to the parish mino¬ 
rities, because they would never take to a trade 
kindly. I could not avoid saying that I should 
be surprised if they did. Such is termed edu¬ 
cation: to fit a boy, by the tone imparted to his 
mind, for a life of ease and literature, then set 
him to make shoes, or drive a plough, or, worse 
perchance, wait on a wealthy dunce. This kind 
of education for these boys, compared with its 
applicability to their prospects in life, is in the 
ratio of the purely classical education given to 
gentle born children ungifted with property. 
One cannot affirm that either one or the othei 
is calculated to obstruct an individual’s career, 
but neither assuredly would forward it, save in 
rare instances, and that is the real end of educa¬ 
tion. Quotations are now considered somewhat 
pedantic in Parliament, so even that trifling 
advantage derivable from a classical education 
is lost. Gentlemen of the old school advance 
in support of the Latin mental discipline, that 
no one can write English well without having 
gone through it. Numerous examples contra¬ 
dict this. Shakspeare was no Latinist, neither 
was Falconer. In our days, Colonel Napier is 
considered an elegant English classic: he could 
not have had a “finished education.” Lord 
Collingwood’s despatches are models of good 



EDUCATION. 


69 


English : he went to sea at twelve years old. 
Captain Basil Hall is a pleasing writer, and 
Captain Marryat is one of the most polished 
of novelists: both went to sea when thirteen 
years of age. Mrs. Jamieson, Mrs. Somerville, 
Miss Landon, and a host besides of female wor¬ 
thies, write English well without Latin aid, and 
to crown all, I may cite William Cobbett, the 
most correct and forcible of English writers, and 
author of the best English Grammar. Others 
pretend that a knowledge of Latin facilitates the 
acquisition of continental tongues. If it has that 
tendency, the experience of England does not 
shew it at all events. If there is a people slow 
at speaking European languages, it is the Eng¬ 
lish : if on the contrary one people excels another 
in the acquisition of them, it is the Russian, of 
whose education Latin forms no part, generally 
speaking. The time that an English boy gives 
to Latin, the Russian boy devotes to French. It 
requires no conjurer to decide which is the most 
useful acquirement of the two : the one is sure 
to be forgotten in nineteen cases out of twenty, 
the other is valuable to the owner till the end of 
his days. One can hardly call to mind when 
Latin has served our purpose, but the necessity 
of French is evident in every pursuit of life, civil 
or military, while the advantage and pleasure 


70 


EDUCATION. 


attending on the knowledge oi it repays one 
hundred fold the trouble of acquiring it. For 
one person who regrets his ignorance of Latin, 
fifty deplore their inability to speak and write 
French fluently. French is in the 19th centuiy 
what Latin was in the 17th century, and ought 
rather therefore in my humble opinion to be the 
process for training a boy s mind to habits of 
application and analysis : it is, as Latin used to 
be, the received medium of intercourse between 
strangers of different countries, the principal 
channel of translation, the accepted sign ol a 
gentlemanly education, and the language ol 
diplomacy. Milton was made secretary to the 
Protector for the purpose of corresponding in 
Latin with foreign courts; but Latin would now 
be useless for that object. French has taken its 
place. The many practical reasons which caused 
Latin to be necessary to a gentleman, no longer 
apply; and consequently the boy does not get 
value received for the time which lie bestows on 
it. The learned no longer require Latin to make 
their views and opinions known to the civilized 
world ; and were they to write now in a dead 
language, they would not be read. Ancient 
authors, too, are admirably translated, and even 
were they not so, the taste of the reading public 
has changed : men in general now prefer the 


LEIPSIC* 


71 


knowledge of what is doing and saying in the 
present day, rather than of what was done or 
said two thousand years ago ; they take greater 
interest in reading the speeches of the Parlia¬ 
mentary leaders in France and England, than 
in studying the orations of the Greeks and 
Romans. 

After two hours’ delay in repairing our 
damages, we travel on, and soon meet in the 
road several trains of horse and foot artillery, 
in capital order, going to Magdeburgh for the 
review in the second week of September. At 
five o’clock we stop to dine at Halle,—Halle 
famous for its university, with able professors in 
all branches of science and literature. Groups 
of devil-may-care young fellows were in the 
streets—beer, baccy, and brothel legible in their 
air and demeanour. They will all, I thought, 
sober down by and by into sedate citizens,— 
denounce the life which they now enjoy, and 
be in their turn quizzed by 4 young Germany ’ 
for habits such as they now ridicule. 

That evening we reach the celebrated book- 
mart of Europe, and admire its antique appear¬ 
ance in the pale light. Leipsic is a prominent 
landmark in German history, being connected 
with every remarkable incident of it. The 
numerous conferences held within its walls on 




72 


LEIPSIC. 


various subjects, religious and political, have 
given it celebrity, which however is unthought 
of beside the two important battles fought in 
its vicinity, by two of the greatest generals on 
record : the battle of religious freedom gained 
by Gustavus Adolphus,* and the battle for 
German national independence — as it might be 
called — lost by Napoleon on the same spot 
nearly two hundred years later. 

Being eager to reach Vienna, I left Leipsic 
next day, and continued my journey to Dresden. 
A short distance from the town we passed under 
the railroad in progress between Leipsic and 
Dresden. A few miles at -either end were 
already terminated, and the" country being flat 
the whole was likely to be soon finished. _ The 
high roads in Prussia and Saxony are good, and 
the posting, though not so much accelerated as 
it ought to be, is well organized. The Saxon 

i 

* The battle near Leipsic, between the Swedes and* 
Saxons, under Gustavus Adolphus, and the imperial army 
under Marshal Tilly, was fought Dec. 7, 1631. Gustavus 
thereby secured the cause of Protestantism in Germany. 
The Scotch battalion, in the Swedish service, greatly distin¬ 
guished itself in the battle. Tilly was wounded. The two 
armies consisted of about 40,000 men each. The Imperial¬ 
ists lost half their number in killed, wounded, and prisoners. 
The loss of the Swedes was comparatively trifling'. 


DRESDEN. 


73 


roads, winding and varied, refresh the eye after 
the never-ending avenues in Prussia, which 
connect the extreme points by straight lines. 
The Germans love trees by the road-side ; we, 

. i 

on the contrary, forbid them to be planted 
within a certain distance because they intercept 
the sun. The German mode appears to be pre¬ 
ferable. Sun is a rare article in England; the 
roads are not dependent on it for dryness. The 
chief drier is wind : the foliage promotes cur¬ 
rents of "air, while th£ roots imbibe the mois¬ 
ture from the road. I could not avoid remark¬ 
ing the resemblance between the Saxons and 
the English, especially among the women, and 
was pleased at the idea of tracing our origin, by 
' features, so many centuries back. They were 
bold fellows, the Saxons, to descend the Elbe 
on rafts, and cross over to England in boats 
such as we would hardly trust ourselves in now- 
"ja-days. 

Dresden has all to delight and detain the 

stranger: historic edifices, complete museums, 

uncivil people, a charming situation, with Ger- 
* > 

man-Switzerland not far distant; but it and its 
contents have been described so often and so 
minutely, that I need not trouble the reader with 
my remarks and impressions; assuring him how¬ 
ever he will do well to remain within its walls 


74 


AMERICANS. 


some weeks, as I certainly shall do at my next 
visit to the Florence of Germany. 

Having lionized as much as possible in a day, 

1 left Dresden for Prague. I was not alone. 
The Rev. Dr. Bachmann, director of the Lutheran 
churches in the United States, and a young 
gentleman named Holtpole, his protege, travelled 
with me, and were exceeding pleasant company. 
The Doctor is well known as a proficient in natu¬ 
ral history, on which he has published various 
works. He had just visited England and Scot¬ 
land : he intended to take a look at Switzerland 
and France, and return home to Charleston in 
October. As it was the last day of August, I 
thought this a good specimen of the locomotive 
capabilities of our Western brethren. They think 
nothing of distance: time is every thing. A 
party cpiits America in the spring to visit Europe : 
some remain in England; others stop in Italy; 
a few traverse Germany in addition; and all 
re-unite at a given rendezvous and re-cross the 
ocean in the autumn. Doctor Bachmann and 
his young friend were of German descent: he 
• talked German fluently, while his English was 
the purest I ever heard in the mouth of an 
American, totally free from provincialisms, and 
from the constant use of the word “sir,” which 
.generally betrays an American. My name was 


AMERICANS. 


/ 5 

familiar to my fellow-traveller: he informed 
me that there were two eminent men in the 
United States of the name of Slade; one a 
member of Congress, and a stanch opponent of 
slavery; the other celebrated among his country¬ 
men for scientific pursuits. Talking of slavery, 
Dr. Bachmann would not admit the harshness 
of it in the United States to the extent usually 
reported. He would not admit that in the event 
of a white man killing a negro, any favour 
would be shewn him ; he would probably be 
hanged; although, as the Doctor observed, a 
man must give himself a great deal of trouble 
in America to get hanged. But, I remarked, 
as the jury consists of whites, would they not 
be slow of receiving evidence of their co- 
colourist’s guilt? The old story in our navy 
of a captain and a cook about to be tried for the 
same offence, is to the point. The captain bade 
his companion cheer up, for they would certainly 
be acquitted. “ You will be acquitted/’ replied 
the other, “ because you will be tried by a jury 
of captains, and so should 1, if the jury were 
composed of cooks.” Thus, I apprehend, the 
case stands between the white and the black in 
America: there may not be a wilful intention to 
screen the guilty, but there is a natural leaning 
to the side of the white. The only argument 


* 


76 


AMERICANS. 


for slavery in America is, that it has existed in 
every celebrated republic, in some form or other, 
since history was written. The excuse for it is, 
that the proprietors in the southern states would 
be ruined without forced labour. The white man\ 
is unable to cultivate rice and cotton, he cannot 
resist the heat and exhalations; the negro, on the 
contrary, goes to sleep with his face shining in 
the sun, and awakes all the better for his nap. 
Dr. Bachmann expressed himself gratified with 
the attentions shewn to him in England as a 
scientific man. All England, he observed, 7 
was classic ground to an American, in spite of 
Cooper’s ill-natured remarks occasioned by his 
amour propre having been somehow mortified. 
The Yankees are very sensitive on that point, 
and unnecessarily so, for they have gained a 
position, independent of their glorious birthright 
as England’s children, which should enable 
them to stand a little raillery. At the same 
time, they have reason to be angry with the 
mode of speaking of them adopted by some 
English travellers : it is hardly fair to set down 
the conversation of tables d’ hote and in stage¬ 
coaches as a standard of the people’s intelli¬ 
gence. Similar works to many published in 
America might be written about England by 
traveller’s jotting down what the coachman of the 


AMERICANS. 


77 


“ Tally-bo ” or mine host of the “ Wheat-sheaf” 
might choose to tell him, adding thereto family 
anecdotes picked up in social intercourse, and 
slang phrases of the select. My companion 
expressed himself impartially about some of the 
works published on America, that they contained 
as much truth as error ; but he said, alluding to 
Miss Martineau’s, that it was an outrage on com¬ 
mon sense to suppose that a work compiled by 
a lady, whose aural infirmity debarred her from 
incidental opportunities of correcting errors or 
of removing fixed impressions, could be received 
as evidence of any class of persons or sets of 
opinions in America. For my part, I cannot 
understand how Englishmen can depreciate 
Americans. They ought to be proud of them 
and exalt them. I regard them as my country¬ 
men. When I hear a man talk my own lan¬ 
guage, cite my country’s history as his own, 
know that he lives under similar laws, and has 
the same usages, even to the mode of drinking 
tea and being exclusive, I cannot consider him 
as a foreigner. No act or deed can destroy cer- 
tain ties. Those between us and the Americans 
are indissoluble : they lie in blood, language, 
religion, laws, prejudices, and trifles. They 
must be proud of their ancestry, and we ought to 
rejoice that the spirit and enterprise of English¬ 
men reign on the other side of the Atlantic. 


78 


CULM. 


A few hours after leaving Dresden we changed 
horses at a post-house in the battle-field of Culrn 
(fought Aug. 13, 1813). The battle was between 
the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians on one 
side, and the French and Saxons on the other. 
It completely turned the tide of Napoleon’s 
fortune. The fatal battles of Dresden and 
Leipsic soon followed. Three funeral columns 
mark the field of Culm, in memory of the car¬ 
nage of that day, severally erected by Russia, 
Prussia, and Austria. Three veterans, one 
belonging to each nation, are the guardians of 
the columns, and live in pretty cottages adjoin¬ 
ing the monuments, which stand about half-a- 
mile apart, marking the respective positions of 
the Allies. The column erected by Russia is by 
far the most elegant of the three. The field of 
battle is a wide heath. The wind blew cuttino-lv 
over it across deep ravines, as we walked round 
the mementos of the decline of the mighty con¬ 
queror, who little thought that the Saxons who 
fought here so nobly in his cause would cruelly 
betray him a few weeks afterwards at Leipsic. 
Defection is serviceable at times, kino;s reward 
the traitor; but we bring ourselves with diffi¬ 
culty to the contemplation of officers—men of 
honour—forsaking their leader in the hour of 
need, and turning their guns against their 


PRAGUE. 


79 


comrades in the very battle which they began 
together as allies. No blushing ribbon or glit¬ 
tering cross can hide that stain ! 

A few hours more brought us to a scene of 
another character — to Toplitz. We stopped 
there to sup, and it being within an hour of Sep¬ 
tember, we ordered partridges. Two English¬ 
men were at table, just arrived from Vienna; 
we exchanged news, drank to each other, and 
parted. 

A magnificent spectacle greeted our eyes as 
the sun rose : we were descending an eminence 
into the broad vale where Prague sits embosomed 
amidst gardens and trees, and embraced by the 
Moldau. Woods, gay villas on the hills, and 
minaret-crowned towers, give Prague the air of 
an oriental city. Here the traveller in Austria 
begins to acknowledge the influence of Turkish 
manners and tastes, consequent on the long 
wars between Turkey and Germany. It becomes 
more evident the farther one advances east¬ 
wards, till, in Transylvania and Croatia, dis¬ 
tinction nearly ceases. We stopped our carriage 
for ten minutes, to enjoy the rich and varied 
prospect. Even those accustomed to the glowing 
imagery of the East, and the rich perfection ol 
Italy, admire the distant view of the capital of 
Bohemia, and pronounce it one of the finest in 


80 PRAGUE. 

Europe. The interior corresponds with the 
impression raised from without; broad, well- 
paved streets, rows of palaces of lofty elevation, 
handsome churches, and an animated popu¬ 
lation, characterize the city, which rejoices, 
moreover, in pretty women. I saw nowhere 
else in Germany so many attractive faces. In 
all ways Prague ranks as one of the finest cities 
in Europe. Buttressed dwellings and barred 
windows alone remain to shew that it was not 
always in its present peaceful and prosperous 
state. Religion brought unnumbered evils on 
its head. We hardly believe, amidst its gorgeous 
altars and devoted Catholic population, the 
struggles and sacrifices made by Prague in the 
cause of Protestantism. Here, in the market¬ 
place, after the fiery martyrdom of John Huss, 
all the works which could be found of his master, 
John Wycliffe (of Yorkshire), were burned by 
the Emperor’s order. That bonfire glared fierce 
and wide; it was the signal of the bloodiest 
revenge ever wreaked by fanaticism. The 
Wycliffites and Hussites devastated Bohemia 
for nearly a century with barbarous and unre¬ 
lenting warfare. The peace of Prague in 1,512 
restored peace, and the Bohemians gained in 
some measure the right of free-thinking, fifty 
years afterwards, by a charter from the Emperor, 


PRAGUE. 


81 


which granted them, in express terms, religious 
freedom. Such freedom, however, although it 
had been respected by Rudolf and Maximilian, 
ill accorded with the policy of the crafty Ferdi¬ 
nand. He attacked the reformed religion in 
various parts of the empire, persecuted it every¬ 
where, and, as a decisive act, sent an order to 
Prague in 1618, to raze the Protestant churches 
in that city to the ground. This was the 
commencement of the memorable thirty-years’ 
war—the war of Catholicism against Protes¬ 
tantism. The nobles of Prague determined to 
resist. When summoned before the Emperor's 
Commissioners in the castle of Prague, they 
haughtily declared their intention to disobey 
the impious edict, and finished an angry dis¬ 
cussion by throwing two of the said Commis¬ 
sioners— the Counts Slavata and Martinez—full- 
robed, out of the window. The window was 
forty feet high; but a dunghill under it re¬ 
ceived their Excellencies nearly unhurt. As 
they were supposed to have had their necks 
broken by the fall, they remained unnoticed, 
and escaped out of the city next day. Abject 
apologies followed them to Vienna, with pro¬ 
testations of fidelity to the Emperor from the 
Praguites, who were now alarmed for the result 
of the outrage committed on the representatives 


G 


82 


PRAGUE. 


of their sovereign. Their submission was re¬ 
jected. They then prepared to resist; banished 
the Jesuits from Bohemia, and sequestrated the 
property of the Catholic bishop; then raised 
an army, and formed a league with the neigh¬ 
bouring Protestant states. These acts were fol¬ 
lowed up by a formal renunciation of their 
allegiance to the Emperor, and by a tender of 
the Bohemian crown to Frederick, Elector of 
the Palatinate, August 1618. 

Thus far all went well: the Praguites had 
shewn promptitude and decision; had drawn the 
sword and thrown away the scabbard, which is 
the only guarantee of success in civil war. But 
treachery and disunion marred the noble cause. 
The Emperor Ferdinand contrived to break the 
Protestant league formed for the succour of 
Prague, and the commanders of the patriot 
army further aided him by disputes about pre¬ 
cedency—the same pitiable puerility which de¬ 
stroyed unity of action in the late Polish war. 
Ferdinand was therefore enabled to turn his 
arms uninterruptedly against the Bohemians. 
When he appeared before Prague, November 
1620, the patriot army, drawn up for its defence 
under the Prince of Anhalt, was already half 
disorganized by disunion. One charge decided 
the battle: the Bohemians fled in disorder 



PRAGUE. 


83 


within an hour. The city surrendered at dis¬ 
cretion next day. Ferdinand made a barbarous 
use of his victory. Nearly thirty of the prin¬ 
cipal Bohemian nobility were put to death at 
Prague a few months afterwards; the estates 
of several hundred nobles were confiscated; and 
three years later, in 1624, the measure of the 
misfortunes of Bohemia was filled by an impe¬ 
rial edict which enjoined all Protestants to em¬ 
brace the Roman Catholic faith within two years, 
or to quit the empire. The edict was mercilessly 
enforced. The civil and military power of the 
empire was employed in searching out Protest¬ 
ants. It is said that between 20,000 and 30,000 
families were compelled to leave Bohemia because 
they would not hear mass, which is now per¬ 
formed in every corner of the country. Ferdi¬ 
nand’s success is the only instance on record of 

•/ 

power having succeeded in extirpating a religion 
out of a country, and in maintaining its exclusion 
for above two centuries afterwards. Sultan 
Amurath converted or banished the Christians 
of Albania by the same means; but the religion 
has returned, and its votaries now equal the 
Moslems in number. 

Two celebrated individuals have found a 
retreat at Prague, denied to so many of her 
own citizens. Tycho Brahe, on being driven 

g 2 


84 PRAGUE. 

from his country by the jealousy of courtiers, 
chose Prague for his residence, and died there 
in 1601.* The gallant Szrynecki, commander 
of the devoted Polish army in the last struggle 
for liberty, was residing at Prague at the time 
of which I write, on his parole. 

We had an opportunity on the day of our 
arrival of seeing a review of part of the garrison 
(12,000 strong). The men were uncommonly 
fine looking and performed their evolutions ad¬ 
mirably : but the appearance of Austrian troops, 
all well dressed and soldierly as they are, is 
always disfigured by the odious canes of the 
corporals, and the liberal application of blows to 
the shoulders of non-compliants with the marti¬ 
net system. The natural effect of machine-like 
adherence to orders is visible in every depart¬ 
ment of the state. We had a remarkable 
instance of this at the post-office. As my com¬ 
panions were going to Munich, I went with 
them to take a place in the mail to Vienna. 
All the places were engaged, but in such a 
case another carriage may be put on for three 
extra passengers. I offered to take another. 

* Tycho Brahe was born at Knudstrup in Scaane in 
1546. His parents were noble. A bronze bust was erected 
to his memory in the royal observatory at Copenhagen by 
Christian VII. 


PRAGUE. 


85 


“Are you alone?” asked the employe. “ Yes,” 
was the answer. “ Then we cannot accommo¬ 
date you, for we are directed to furnish an extra 
wageu only when three passengers desire to 
go.” No reasoning could make this sapient 
administrator comprehend that, provided three 
places were paid for, it did not signify whether 
one or three persons travelled, that in fact the 
post wouH be the gainer. “No,” he replied, 
“that could not be; if three persons wanted 
places well and good.” We could not hammer 
our view of the case into his intellect, and 
were literally obliged to apply to his superior, in 
order to obtain the favour of paying for three 
places for the use of one person. Excepting the 
inconveniences occasionally attendant on this 
dread of departing from the very letter of the 
law, posting is well arranged in Austria. The 
post will furnish private carriages if required for 
any distance at a moderate charge. Travellers 
may pay the amount of their post-horses before 
starting for any given distance; as for example 
between Prague and Vienna, which is of sin¬ 
gular convenience in travelling at night, in a 
country where great embarrassment is expe¬ 
rienced in paying on account of the inexpertness 
of the Austrians in reckoning their multiform 
coin, as well as from the difference between 


86 


JOURNEY. 


miinz and schein gulden (good and bad florins), 
and which perplexes the natives nearly as much 
a^ foreigners. Strangers are liable to be im¬ 
posed on by this confusion of money. Charges 
at inns are usually made in “ bad florins,” but 
the innkeeper does not always object to receive 
“ good florins” in payment, or twice and a half 
as.^uiuch.*/ 

I parted from my American friends with un¬ 
feigned regret, and left Prague at four p.m. A 
wearisome journey over an uninteresting country 
was before me. A lady had come to the post 
shortly before our departure, and hearing that a 
stranger had engaged a whole carriage, asked to 
^ l?e accommodated with a seat to a town about 
T a hundred miles on, to which, of course, assent 
was given. She was neither young nor pretty, 
•so I might take credit to myself for disinterest¬ 
edness. 

At the place where we halted for supper, the 

V 

* At the national bankruptcy in Austria during the war, 
the money was depreciated by an order in council. Two 
florins were declared to be worth five florins, and so on. 
On the resumption of real payments, reckonings still con- 
• tinned to be made in the depreciated money. The bad 
notes are not yet taken out of circulation. A stranger in 
Austria has a right to presume that his bills are in schein 
y gulden , “ bad florins,” unless miinz gulden be stated. 

/ » 


JOURNEY. 


87 


girl of the inn, one of the prettiest lasses I saw 
in Germany, asked me for a cigar. I gave her 
one, supposing that she wanted it for her brother 
or lover. To my surprise, ^he put the weed into 
her own pretty mouth, and smoked it with 
apparent gout . Since my departure from Lima, 
I had not seen a woman smoke a cigar : a cigar 
became the link of association between a village 
inn in Bohemia and the golden capital of Peru. 
I had seen Turkish ladies smoke, it is true, but 
pipes are different affairs from cigars : amber, 
silken tassels, and jewels, set off the Odalisk’s 
own graceful figure. Tobacco in a cherry or 
jessamine stick loses its noxious properties, 
although Byron says, after extolling the hookah 
and the chibook— 

i 

“ Thy true lovers more admire by far 
Thy naked beauties—give me a cigar.” 

In Turkey tobacco appears as a fragrant herb, 
and evaporates in a pearly-hued odorous vapour. 
Neither the hands nor lips of a Turkish lady 
are soiled by the contact. 

The next day we proceeded along at the rate 
of six miles an hour over an open country. A 
young Prussian in the first wagen came into 
mine, and made the journey agreeable by his 
conversation. The Prussians are certainly su- 


88 


JOURNEY. 


perior to the Austrians in companionable quali¬ 
ties : they are better educated, with more modern 
ideas about men and things. The aspect of 
Prussia is also superior to that of Austria. Some 
say that this is owing to the influence of Protes¬ 
tantism in the former. I cannot say whether 
it is so or not; at the same time the traveller 
does not require the cross and the saint’s image 
placed ever and anon on the road’s side in Aus¬ 
tria to indicate that he is traversing a Catholic 
country. We can understand how religion 
may be the cause of the backward state of one 
country compared with the other, because the 
professors of Catholicism inculcate contentment 
with the state in which a man s lot is cast, and 
nothing is more fatal to progress. I do not, 
however, think that travellers are quite right in 
citing the mendicity which is apparent in 
Catholic countries as evidence of poverty : it 
may exist to an equal extent in a Protestant 
country, but the rule there is to keep it out of 
sight. Catholic governments allow free trade 
in beggary, and apparently with some reason: 
the dog may whine in the rich man’s face for 
a bone, and why should the pauper be debarred 
the exercise of his tongue to obtain a loaf? 

At daylight of the second morning the cocked 
hats of our postillions, put on with an air of 


JOURNEY. 


89 


pretension, wider and more formal roads, and 
numbers of market-carts, betoken our approach 
to the capital. Our pace quickens, and at six 
in the morning we reach the custom-house of 
Vienna. Ten steps from there brought us to the 
London hotel. 


90 


VIENNA. 




CHAPTER IV. 

« / 

VIENNA-AUSTRIANS AND TURKS-PUBLIC BUILDINGS- 

SCHOENBRUNN — PRINCE OF DENMARK - THEATRE - 

PLAGUE—MUSEUMS-THE LATE AND THE PRESENT EM¬ 
PEROR OF AUSTRIA-PRINCE METTERNICH. 


I had Vienna to myself. The court, the diplo¬ 
matists, and the nobility were gone to the Empe¬ 
ror’s coronation at Milan : the principal citizens 
were still at Baden, twenty miles distant. 
Fortunately for me, some Greek families of my 
acquaintance were in town, and their agreeable^ 
society enlivened the month I was detained at 
Vienna. All nations congregate at Vienna: the 
Greeks especially like the place, having always 
carried on an extensive trade between it and the 
Turkish provinces of Europe. Mr. Sinna, a~ 
Greek banker of Vienna, is one of the richest 
men in Europe. He commenced realizing a 
fortune by conveying English manufactures from 
Salonica, through Turkey, into Austria, in the 
face of Napoleon’s interdict. This circuitous 
traffic gained him immense returns. Since the 


VIENNA. 


91 


\ 


peace lie has been of great service to Prince 
Metternich in a financial sense, and has been 

rewarded by the successive titles of Baron and 

» 

Count. * I met another remarkable Greek in 
Mr. Sotero, and in consideration of the apposite¬ 
ness of some of his opinions, I will cite a few. 
He was then eighty-eight years old, with a sur¬ 
prising memory. He was a native of Pliilip- 
popolis, and had traded with India, as most 
of the merchants of that city did in his day. f 
Philippopolis was then a far more important 
feity than now; the last fifty years have reduced 
it in a greater ratio than most other towns of 
the Ottoman empire. Mr. Sotero had resided 
fifteen years at Calcutta. He observed to me 


^ * Count Sinna lias lately undertaken to build a stone 

bridge over the Danube at Pest, with the right of toll for 
ninety years. 

t In 1801, Hadji Abdoula (a Turk), and Makou (a 
GreA) merchants of Philippopolis, performed a remarkable 
trading voyage. They proceeded to India by the Red Sea, and 
Having purchased a cargo of Yemen coffee and Indian goods, 
sailed for Bassora. From Bassora they travelled, in 42 days, 
to Enzili on the Caspian, having passed by Schiras, where 
they purchased tobacco, and Ispahan. They embarked at 
Enzili for Astrakan, whence they ascended the Wolga to 
Dubofska. Thence their goods were transported by land 
to Catchalni, there embarked on the Don for Taganrok, and 
conveyed from thence by the Euxine to Constantinople. Fear 
of the Wahabites caused this circuitous route to be taken. 


92 


VIENNA. 


that Russia would one day march with Persia 
against India : and as we soon afterwards heard 
that Count Simonivitch, the Russian ambassador 
in Persia, was encouraging the Schah at the 
siege of Herat, the prediction was very remark¬ 
able. He said that his experience of India 
led him to believe that the prospect of a foreign 
force approaching our frontier would excite 
serious disaffection towards us, and even cause 
revolts against our power. The combination 
among the native princes, and a conspiracy at 
Karnoul, brought to light after Sir John Keane’s 
brilliant campaign in Affghanistan, have com¬ 
pletely verified the old Greek’s words. He con¬ 
sidered Turkey as virtually lost. So does every 
body acquainted with the subject, excepting my 
noble friend Lord Ponsonby, and my talented 
friend Mr. Urquhart, unless a change should have 
recently come over the spirit of their dreams. 

Vienna is a remarkably fine city: the houses 
of the nobility, some of them occupying nearly 
half the length of a street, with fine elevations 
and carved windows, give it an air of grandeur 
which no other city possesses. The shops are 
gay, the streets bustling, and the equipages 
tolerably good. The custom of the trades¬ 
people to exhibit the picture of their patron over 
their shops produces a lively effect. I saw over 


VIENNA. 


93 


a milliner’s shop with the device, a la reine Vic¬ 
toria , a full-length picture of our gracious sove¬ 
reign, painted in a style to give the Germans 
a good opinion of her personal charms. The 
tailor to the Emperor had the best likeness over 
his shop, full size, that I have seen of his Impe¬ 
rial Majesty. Many other illustrious individuals 
adorn the shops of Vienna. 

We found the dust in September intolerable 
everywhere, in the city and outside. In spite 
of it, beer-drinkers and smokers covered the 
glacis every evening; their occupation forming 
a singular contrast to the strains of delicious 
music heard on every side. Further on, the 
Prater spreads far and wide, free from all these 
inconveniences, and there are to be found some 
of the real charms of Vienna. The union of 
garden, park, and forest land, the succession of 
“ openings” and prairies, along the river, are 
unique and delightful. 

The Viennese are Materialists, or more pro¬ 
perly speaking, Sensualists. Eating, drinking, 
smoking, dancing, and music form their enjoy¬ 
ments : withal they are an excellent-hearted, 
placid-tempered people, and are perhaps the 
happiest in the world : they have passed the 
semi-barbarism of Asia, and have stopped short 
of the over refinement of Europe. I doubt, how- 


94 


VIENNA. 


ever, if anybody accustomed to the excitement 
and intelligence of England and France would 
like their society for a continuance. The quality 
of incomprehensiveness is prominent: everybody 
must have remarked how a shopkeeper puzzles 
over the zwantzigers and kreutzers before satisfy¬ 
ing himself that he is not giving his customer 
too much or too little in exchange, and with what 
difficulty he understands a stranger unless he ac¬ 
cent every word precisely. The middle and lower 
classes seemed to me to possess the general igno¬ 
rance of the Turks, without their local knowledge 
and individual quickness of apprehension, which 
may be accounted for by the different forms of 
government under which they live. The Otto¬ 
man Porte leaves its subjects the right of self- 
government ; never interferes with their pursuits 
or concerns, only reserves to itself the power to 
lop off the top branches of the social tree from 
time to time: no police regulations, or passports, 
or regiments of officials, check the habit of think¬ 
ing for oneself, or of providing for casualties. 
The Austrian government, on the contrary, is 
paternal; it cares for the material wants of the 
people as though they were schoolboys, furnishes 
them with promenades, music and museums, 
keeps them in a tranquil course of existence, and 
discourages discussion on any subject, whether 


VIENNA. 


95 


of domestic or of general import, till at length 
few men judge for themselves. With nothing 
to excite, with no object to stimulate exertion, 
the mind reposes on the contemplation of actual 
life, and as the parents are, so necessarily do the 
children grow up—good-natured, thrifty, and 
musical,—easily ruled, if their appetites are not 
interfered with, and readily pleased, from the 
mere force of habit, added to an attention, on the 
part of their rulers, to indulge their tastes. The 
Austrians want also in many respects the refined 
tastes of their turbaned neighbours. There is 
the same love of gardens, views, and country 
houses, of sedentary enjoyments and tobacco, but 
how differently expressed ! The light elegant 
kiosks of the Turks, their graceful boats, and 
their cemeteries which make death lovely, are 
nowhere to be seen in Germany. German beer 
and tobacco — occupation of some, pastime of 
many, and solace of all—are coarse and vulgar 
beside sherbet and ££ Salonica.” We see everv 

my 

where, in bad copies, evidence of the long in¬ 
tercourse, now as friends, now as foes, between 
the Austrians and the Turks. The church of 
St. Charles, for example, is built after that of 
St. Sophia at Constantinople, but is a caricature. 
It certainly reminds one of a mosque, but the 
imitation is mean: two minarets are joined, or 


96 


VIENNA. 


rather stuck on to the edifice, yet appear not to 
belong to it. They are singularly unornamental, 
without being of any utility. A similar defect, 
absence of taste, applies to many of the public 
buildings in Vienna. The cathedral (St. Ste¬ 
phen’s) is noble in size, and the height of the 
spire adds elegance to the building; but the whole 
is disfigured by cumbrous Gothic accessories laid 
on with a feudal disregard of propriety. The 
crest of Austria, the double-headed eagle, is 
tesselated on the roof. Talking of churches, 
St. Mary’s church in the suburb is interesting on 
account of being erected on the spot where the 
Grand Vizir’s tent was pitched at the siege of 
Vienna, by the Turks, in 1683; when, but for 
the gallantry of Sobieski and his Poles, who re¬ 
lieved the city by routing the besiegers, Austria 
with its capital would probably have become an 
Ottoman dependency. 

The Belviderp palace, however, is a fine 
building, with a collection of valuable pictures. 
Two heads of a man and woman, by Albert 
Durer, are wonderful performances: they are 
kept in wooden cases, and require an appli¬ 
cation to a guardian to be seen. Three heads 
in one frame by Titian are absolutely alive, 
expressing thought and uttering language. The 
garden of the palace, though cited as some- 


SCHOENBRUNN. 


97 


thing, is French and formal, unlike that of 
the palace of Schoenbrunn, which, to my taste, 
is the handsomest in Europe. The trees are 
remarkably fine at Schoenbrunn, and there 
is a hill in the back-ground, crowned with a 
pavilion, which produces an effect at once 
picturesque and classic. Schoenbrunn excites a 
comparison with Versailles, but the comparison 
is in its favour. Schoenbrunn is natural; Ver¬ 
sailles is purely artificial. Nature is merely 
pruned at Schoenbrunn ; she never appears at 
Versailles. As a set-off against waterworks, 
Schoenbrunn has a menagerie, the best I ever 
saw, both as regards the comfort of the inmates 
and the convenience afforded to visiters. It is 
open to the public, washed and unwashed, gratis. 
We noticed some superb bears, a magnificent 
Bengal tiger, and a gaudy collection of birds in 
a circular-wired aviary of colossal dimensions. 
The white polar bear, of gigantic proportions, 
has got a comfortable bath adjoining his cage. 

We had a curious sight at the menagerie, 
one day, of the Crown Prince of Denmark and 
some of his relatives. They had dined at the 
palace, and afterwards drove to see the animals. 
Etiquette exacted the exclusion of the public 
from the various enclosures, which branch out 
in radii from a common centre occupied by the 

H 





98 


VIENNA. 


aviary, while the royal party traversed them. 
Their Royal Highnesses were thus placed ludi¬ 
crously in juxta-position with us : as we gazed 
on them and the animals together through the 
bars, they literally performed the part of lions . 
They appeared good-looking and amiable. In 
the evening the Prince of Demnark occasioned a 
more interesting association by assisting at the 
representation of Hamlet at the Burg theatre, per¬ 
formed by his desire. The acting was excellent. 

I was told by competent judges that the German 
translation of our great poet’s masterpiece is 
perfect, retaining the force and spirit of the 
original, while the language is rendered word for 
word, even to Ophelia’s plaintive and wayward 
song. The company at this theatre is reckoned 
first-rate in Germany; Shakspeare’s plays are 
often acted there. The Karinthian-gate Opera 
is likewise of a high order, with a superior 
corps-de-ballet and tasteful scenery. I met a 
singular character there one evening in the per¬ 
son of a Frenchman, decorc and loquacious, who 
sat beside me. As he conversed knowingly about 
Constantinople, whence he had just arrived, I 
took the liberty of inquiring his name. “ Je 
suis un miserable medecin de pestef he replied, 
“ dont peut-etre vous avez entendu parlerP I was 
enlightened at once. I perceive, I rejoined, that 


VIENNA. 


99 


I have the honour of speaking to Dr. Bulard, 
whose essays on plague have attracted attention 
lately. Dr. Bulard, as my readers may or may 
not know, was a stanch anti-contagionist, main¬ 
taining the curability of plague without difficulty, 
and to prove his doctrine had shut himself in the 
plague hospital in Leander’s tower in the Bos¬ 
phorus, in the summer of 1838. He said he had 
performed miracles, had lain in the same beds 
with plague subjects, had cured many, and re¬ 
mained uninoculated himself. I heard various 
accounts of his trials and treatment afterwards at 
Pera; some for and some against him, so I cannot 
pretend to say what degree of credit his assertions 
are entitled to: it appeared however that profes¬ 
sional jealousy had operated to his prejudice, and 
induced the Porte to dismiss him when the sea¬ 
son of plague was over, instead of retaining him 
on a liberal salary, as he seemed to think his 
eminent services demanded, and as enlightened 
policy would have dictated, for the obscurity 
which envelopes this frightful disorder arises 
from the reluctance of medical men to incur 
risk by personal attendance. Dr. Bulard had 
given proofs of being willing to face the danger, 
which is the first step towards obtaining correct 
notions of any disorder. 

Enthusiastic in his opinions, Dr. Bulard was 

ii 2 



100 


VIENNA. 


then on a mission, so he informed me, to the 
governments of Europe, to propose the appoint¬ 
ment of a given number of medical men, two 
of each nation, with instructions to establish 
themselves in a suitable spot, at Constantinople, 
Smyrna, or Alexandria, there open a plague 
hospital, and test the merits of his treatment, or 
of any other, if it should not be approved of. 
He was sanguine of success, and expected to 
return to the East in a year with his congress of 
doctors, but having heard no more of him, L 
presume that he has not met with encourage 
ment. The plan is admirable, and the only one 
adapted to the exigency. Without having 
doctors especially devoted to the examination 
of plague, we shall remain in the dark about 
the nature of the disorder. Civilized Europe 
would thereby confer a real benefit on Turkey, 
of a greater amount than diplomacy has ever 
obtained for her. Depopulation is the great evil 
of the East, and plague is still as ever one of 
its most active agents. The Turks gave us in¬ 
oculation, which suggested vaccination : we owe 
them something in return ; if we find out a mode 
of treating plague, we shall be quits. Baron 
Ottenfels, the under secretary of state for foreign 
affairs at Vienna, received Dr. Bulard very well, 
and was inclined to second his views; and having 


VTENNA. 


101 


been the Austrian Internuncio at Constantinople, 
he was in a position to appreciate them. 

The Museum of Natural History at Vienna is 
well worth seeing. The collection of birds is 
very fine and complete,—that of mice is exten¬ 
sive and curious,—that of shells is beautiful,— 
that of insects is indifferent. An astonishing 
number and variety of fish are preserved there, 
and are calculated, I thought, to raise incredu¬ 
lity in an inland city like Vienna, few of whose 
inhabitants have seen the sea or any fish beyond 
the carp of the Danube, which I may pronounce 
of a good quality, equal to the carp of the Rhine, 
well known, of course, to the tourists in Rhine- 
bathed Germany. Two stuffed horses are in the 
Museum, and are pointed out to visiters as 
English horses. They are libels on our race : 
their models are to be seen in the hackney 
coach-horses of London. Some carelessness has 
been shewn in the preparations ; somewhat of 
an unpleasant smell pervades the lower apart¬ 
ments, which in winter, aided by stove-heat, 
must be very disagreeable. 

The Artillery Musem is also deserving of 
notice It is extensively furnished with ancient 
and modern arms, arranged with taste and sym¬ 
metry. The particularly interesting objects are, 
1. the chain used by the Ottomans to close the 


102 


VIENNA. 


passage of the Danube when they besieged 
Vienna in 1683; 2. the cap of Godfrey de 
Bouillon; 3. the leather shirt of Gustavus 
Adolphus; 4. the armour of Rudolf, founder of 
the Hapsburgh dynasty ; 5. the sword of Scan- 
derbeg. I was glad to see the last-named relic, 
because when I was at Alessio, in Upper Alba¬ 
nia, in 1836, where Scanderbeg lies buried, I 
promised some Albanian Beys that if I should 
ever visit Vienna, I would not fail to look for 
their hero’s sword. I did not then know it was 
at Vienna, and almost doubted the correctness 
of their report; although a warlike people were 
certainly likely to venerate the trusty weapon of 
their beloved chief, which, of Turkish make, and 
a present from Sultan Solyman, had often opened 
the Ottoman ranks in defence of liberty. These 
slight memorials of departed greatness are far 
more interesting than all the curiously disposed 
piles of arms and armour, arranged with such 
care, and tended so carefully: each contains a 
volume, recalling a history to the mind of the 
spectator. Few objects in all vast collections 
claim a thought or retain a place in the memory. 
In the Artillery Museum at Paris, the dagger 
of Ravaillac, the assassin of Henry IV., is the 
only thing of peculiar interest.* In the Tower 

* Some one asked Ravaillac, with anxiety, if the blade 


VIENNA. 


103 


of London, notwithstanding the matchless dis¬ 
play of equestrian armour and the crown jewels, 
the axe which severed poor Lady Lane Grey’s 
head, and the supposed spot where the young 
Princes were smothered, are the objects which 
excite real interest. In this kind of wealth the 
Museum at Vienna is the richest in Europe. We 
saw also an infernal machine, such as the one 
Fieschi used : it is above a century old, and 
consequently deprives Fieschi of the merit of 
invention. His employers had probably seen 
it. Near it, under a glass cover, the orders of 
Marshal Schwartzenberg are preserved ; more, I 
suppose, to shew how' many were possessed by 
one individual, than for any other purpose ; and 
under another glass cover, on a velvet cushion, 
is the small iron cross—the soldier’s cross—worn 
by the late Emperor Francis, in preference to 
any other. We thought these memorials mis¬ 
placed among the nobler ones mentioned above. 
The numerous orders of the Marshal indicated 
little more than political civility on the part of 
various sovereigns; and the small iron cross 
could not be shewn as evidence of the departed 
Emperor’s modesty, because a diamond star and 

was poisoned. li Ah,” replied the fanatic, “ I forgot that; 
how stupid I was.” The oversight little signified: he had 
struck home. 


104 


THE EMPEROR FRANCIS. 


a copper medal produce the same effect on the 
breast of an Emperor. Napoleon s plain green 
coat, amidst the brilliant embroidered uniforms 
of his generals, shewed more pride ol heart than 
simplicity of taste. He wanted distinction, and 
a plain coat distinguished him best. 

The Emperor Francis, however, was a plain 
spoken person, with retiring manners. He was 
a man of the people without any pretension of 
being so, and the same may be said of all the 
members of the Hapsburgh family. The kind 
and affectionate way adopted by all classes at 
Vienna in speaking of the imperial family shews 
the love entertained for them: the remarks 
which drop from the Viennese about the little 
princes and princesses when they pass by on the 
prater are exactly such as each person would 
utter about a favourite child. The late Emperor 
Francis was especially beloved, and regarded as 
though he really were the father of his people. 
Many interesting traits are related of the 
goodness of his heart, and none more so than 
one in relation to the late Archduchess Hen¬ 
rietta. This Princess, wife of the Archduke 
Charles, was by all accounts a charming person: 
her husband thought so also, notwithstanding 
her love of expense, so much at variance with 
the economical notions of the Hapsburgh family. 


THE EMPEROR FRANCIS. 


105 


The Emperor Francis loved her with all a 
father's love. At her death the clergy objected 
to place her body in the imperial vaults because 
she had died a Protestant. “ Away with you,’’ 
cried the heartstricken Emperor, “she lived 
with us in life, and shall be with us in death.” 
This sentiment shewed him worthy of a better 
crown than the “ iron crown.” The following 
anecdote is of a lighter character, but equally 
shews the opinion entertained of the man. 
After his death, the model of a statue of him 
was placed for a few weeks, in order to judge of 
the effect, in the middle of the road leading from 
the palace to the adjoining gate of the city. It 
obliged carriages to make a slight circuit. In 
allusion to this, a writing was affixed to the 
statue making the departed Emperor say: “ My 
friends, why have you placed me here, obstruct¬ 
ing the road ? You know I never, in life, stood 
in the way of my subjects.” 

On the above-mentioned gate are the words 
Justitia regnorum fundamentum est i which made 
the joking French say : “ Les Autrichiens out mis 
la justice a la ported 

Notwithstanding the point of this calem- 
bourg, it wants truth: nowhere perhaps is 
justice more attainable than in Austria, or so 
ready an attention given to the poorest and least 


106 


THE EMPEROR FRANCIS. 


befriended. Oppression may be practised in 
the distant provinces, and the law be made to 
act unduly between rich and poor, but the 
remedy is sure : the oppressed, whoever he may 
be, knows that the imperial court is open to 
him, and that his Emperor will listen to him 
in person, even at the expense of his ministers. 
The Emperor Francis devoted several hours 
every Wednesday to receiving the petitions and 
hearing the complaints of the humble, and more 
than one story is told of a poor provincial, after 
vainly seeking for reparation, having travelled 
hundreds of miles to Vienna and stated his case 
in person to the Emperor. This is the anti- 
re volutionar} 7 recipe of the Austrian monarch: 
none can wish to injure him, although many 
dislike his government. He appears rather to 
belong to his subjects, than they to him. It 
sometimes happened that in the popular levees 
of the late Emperor, the suitor, urging a com¬ 
plaint perhaps against a minister or a judge, 
was in the wrong: whereupon the Emperor 
would kindly take him to task, point out his 
error; would say that he could not interfere in 
this affair, that the law was superior to him, 
then give the complainant some money to defray 
the expense of his journey or to see the sights 
of the capital. For this purpose the Emperor 


THE EMPEROR FRANCIS. 


107 


had a bag of money by him at his levee. The 
affectionate demeanour of the Austrian monarch, 
the paternal sway of his government, caring for 
high and low, contrasts painfully with the cruel 
treatment of political offenders. One can hardly 
believe that such opposite regulations can issue 
from the same cabinet. The only explanation 
lies in the presumption that anomalies must exist 
in states as idiosyncracies in individuals; that 
such is a law of the Almighty, to check a near 
approach toward perfection in anyone direction. 
Thus, the American citizen, while worshipping 
his liberty and denouncing monarchy in its 
mildest form as horrid, fosters and profits by 
slavery: the generous English emancipate their 
negroes and dogs, spread protection round their 
asses, yet toil thousands of children in factories 
into disease and deformity: and the benevolent 
Emperors of Austria, who commune with the 
needy and disdain not to follow a pauper to the 
grave,* chain up high-souled gentlemen, as 
though murderers, for having dared to give 

* It is related of the Emperor Francis that meeting the 
solitary bier of a poor woman one day at Vienna, he asked 
why her friends were not following it. “ She has no 
friends” was the answer. “ Then we will be her friends,” 
said the Emperor, and taking off his hat he followed the 
body, accompanied by one of his ministers. 


108 


THE EMPEROlt FERDINAND. 


utterance to thoughts which, deemed godlike in 
some countries, are proscribed in Austria. 

The actual Emperor is as amiable as his 
father; while the amnesty granted during his 
coronation at Milan, in favour of the Italian, 
liberals in exile, gives room to hope for a milder 
interpretation, in future, of political offences. Of 
course, his ministers deserve the credit of the act. 
An amusing anecdote is related of him while 
heir apparent, which might seem to indicate that 
he is not so deficient as is reported, did we not 
know that occasional sparks of wit are no proof 
of understanding. At a soiree, where “ question 
and answer” was the game, the question was 
put, “Which is the strongest part of a man ? ” 
One gave his opinion for the leg, another opined 
for the arm, and so on. When it came to the 
King of Hungary’s turn to reply, the courtiers 
were rather uneasy, knowing his oddness : but 
he relieved them by saying that he considered 
the nose to be the strongest part of a man. After 
the laugh had subsided at this unexpected selec¬ 
tion, he was asked to explain. “ I think so,” 
he replied, “because Prince Metternich, as you 
know, has led my father by the nose for twenty 
years, and yet the nose is as good as ever.” 
Fears were entertained that this Prince would 
never marry : he appeared to have an aver- 


THE EMPEROR FERDINAND. 


109 


sion from the sex, much to the annoyance, no 
doubt, of the many fair aspirants for impe¬ 
rial honours. The accomplished Duchess of 
Modena at length came on a visit to Vienna, and 
changed the tenor of his thoughts, or gave a 
direction to them. Delighted with the manners 
and conversation of the fair visiter, he gallantlv 
said to her one day, that he would marry directly 
if he could find a woman like her. He might 
have intended merely to pay a compliment, but 
he was taken up seriously. The Duchess told 
him that she had a twin sister who resembled 
her in person and description, and that, in con¬ 
sequence, he might write himself down a Bene¬ 
dict from that hour. The Prince agreed to have 
his words interpreted literally. Directions were 
at once sent to the Austrian envoy at the court 
of Turin to negotiate the preliminaries, which 
soon advanced to fulfilment: and thus, by mere 
chance, Austria obtained her present Empress, 
who enjoys happiness by placing her chief delight 
in doing good. Her Majesty is also remarkable 
for the religious tenor of her mind. 

Owing to the absence of the court and the 
celebrities of Vienna at Milan, I had not the 
advantage of seeing Prince Metternich. I saw 
the gallery leading over the street from his house 
to the palace, and thought that something. 



110 


PRINCE METTERNICH. 


Will the Prince, I have asked myself, stand forth 
in history as a statesman, or merely occupy a 
prominent niche in the gallery of diplomatists? 
I apprehend that the latter will be his place, in 
which case posterity will scarcely notice him. 

The object of diplomacy is to temporize, care¬ 
less of the consequences of delay; to avoid 
grappling with a difficulty which may be left 
for another day ; to act, in short, as though 
“ aprbs moi le deluge ’ were the only sensible 
motto. Hence the reason why diplomacy rarely 
unravels a question, but, on the contrary, 
generally entangles it still more. The genius 
of statesmanship is the reverse : overlooking 
personal inconveniences, it anticipates danger, 
and disarms an impending change by meeting 
it half way; it adopts the Arab proverb — 
“provide a remedy for an evil before it ar¬ 
rives." Diplomacy appears self-interested; 
statesmanship is disinterested : the former acts 
as though every thing were subservient to per¬ 
sonal weal; the latter forgets self entirely in the 
pursuit of a national object. Of course I speak of 
diplomacy and of statesmanship as an art, and 
as an attribute. I in no way apply the defi¬ 
nition of their properties to individuals. More¬ 
over I do not think, however lamentable may 
be the result, that even those diplomatists are 


PRINCE METTERNICH. 


Ill 


morally blameable who lose sight of their 
country’s interests in the contemplation of some 
breach of etiquette, or fancied slight,—who dis¬ 
cuss about forms, where action is required. 
Civilization forces or draws men at times into 
situations for which they are scarcely fitted. 
Many soldiers prefer the scent of Cologne water 
to the smell of gunpowder; many sailors are 
sea-sick; some clergymen are licentious, and 
judges are sometimes fitter to be judged than to 
judge others:—and why should not diplomatists 
be misplaced ? 

Prince Metternich is eminently a diplo¬ 
matist, as well as a very eminent one, but is 
he not placed in an era and position where 
the statesman is required ? Has he not 
retarded where he should have progressed ? 
Has he not fettered energies where he should 
have developed them ? Has he not mistaken 
the spirit of the age for a spectre monster, and 
allowed it to weigh him down like a night¬ 
mare, instead of making himself its incarnation ? 
Look at facts. He has uniformly exerted and 
is exerting his great talents and influence solely 
to maintain the status quo everywhere, especially 
in Austria, wilfully turning a blind eye to the 
indices of the storm gathering round him, and 
a deaf ear to the claims of right and reason. 


112 


PRINCE METTEIINICH. 


And truly it must be said, he has managed most 
adroitly to keep the elements entrusted to his 
care within the limits prescribed by him. But 
how much more might he have effected by a 
contrary proceeding! Tn how imposing an atti¬ 
tude might he have placed Austria—foremost 
in power and influence, as in rank. 

As, however, Prince Metternich found her so 
will he leave her, unconnected and disjointed, 
with dilapidated finances and undeveloped re¬ 
sources, with no bulwark to restrain ambition on 
one side, and no channel prepared for the safe 
introduction of liberalism on the other. He 
might have rendered her heterogeneous parts 
homogeneous, have raised a barrier against 
Russia, and have welcomed liberalism without 
fear. A statesman in his place would have done 
all this. A statesman never resists a movement 
which must take place nevertheless ; — never 
defers too long a concession which must be 
granted eventually ;—never loses the merit of 
timely giving that which cannot be withheld : 
his genius prompts him to meet the change — 
to invite it even—and facilitate its co-existence 
with the actual order of things. Prince Metter¬ 
nich always dreaded Russian encroachment: 
but had not the moral courage to adopt the surest 
mode of checking it, by favouring the indepen- 


PRINCE METTERNICH. 


113 


dence of the Duchy of Warsaw; and he equally 
neglected to oppose another barrier against it by 
aiding the Ottoman Porte. Both, perhaps, were 
in his power, the latter indisputably so. He 
had only to say “ I will,” shewing at the same 
time a readiness to act. But he has preferred 
his ease, and thereby leaves a legacy of disas¬ 
ters to his country. He thought by concessions 
to conciliate Russia, who is not to be conciliated, 
and who repays his condescension by intriguing 
among the Greek subjects of Austria, and by 
establishing Greek principalities under Russian 
protection along the course of the Danube. 
Metternich, of course, foresaw all this ; but he 
calculated between two evils—Russia and liber¬ 
alism — and chose the least in abetting the 
former. Here, in my humble opinion, lies the 
grand error of his life; this appears to be the 
most unstatesmanlike view of a great question 
ever taken. Russia was to be checked, and the 
barrier might have been rendered firm : whereas 
liberalism will advance into Austria in spite of 
all opposition; it will advance surely, though 
ever so slowlv, and Metternich’s successors will 
have the two dreaded evils instead of one; while 
the latter, which if allowed to force its way may 
be injurious to some portions of society, would 
now be beneficial to all. It is strange that the 


i 


114 


PRINCE METTERNICH. 


person most in dread of a constitution, viz. 
Prince Metternich, should rule a country which 
is precisely fitted to receive one. Austria, like 
England, has a landed hereditary aristocracy of 
great wealth and influence; and has, therefore, 
one of the principal elements of a constitution 
already in existence—an element which cannot 
be created, and in default of which a con¬ 
stitution, in the English sense of the word, 
must be illusory, more or less. Wherever such 
an aristocracy exists, a popular representation 
may be admitted without any apprehension as 
to the stability of the real institutions of the 
state; but where it does not exist, no calcu¬ 
lations can be relied on. France proves the 
truth of this already, and Prussia will do so 
later. France pretends to have three estates, 
but she has in reality only two,— the crown 
and the people: there is no real medium: the 
balance of power depends on the influence and 
talent of the sovereign, which a fit of illness 
or a pistol ball may annihilate in a moment, 
when every thing is at stake again, and it 
depends on chance or the will of the people 
whether the reign of terror, or military rule, or a 
limited monarchy is to follow. Could Louis XVI. 
have foreseen the result of the yearnings of his 
people, and have given them a representation, 


PRINCE METTERNICH. 


115 


while the old noblesse of the land retained their 
legitimate influence and power, he would have 
secured to his country a real and lasting consti¬ 
tution, as well as have spared it the horror of 
revolution. That however was scarcely to be 
expected, and we cannot blame the King for not 
anticipating the spirit of the age, any more than 
we can feel surprised that Charles I. held firm to 
his prerogatives. Each of those monarchs stood 
first in a new and hazardous career, which it is 
only permitted to transcendent genius to traverse 
securely. No examples were before the eyes 
of Louis XVI., that of England being too far 
back to serve as one: no surrounding nations 
were clamorous for rights. He was excusable 
for not preventing a revolution by timely conces¬ 
sion. He knew neither the danger of procras¬ 
tination, nor the nature of the danger. But the 
ruler of Austria has no such excuse: he knows 
that Western Germany has obtained constitu- 

J 

tions, and that an under current from them 
is silently filtering into Austria: he knows 
the meaning of revolution, that it is a torrent 
which sweeps away the good as well as the bad 
indiscriminately, and he cannot be ignorant that 
it is resorted to by a people in order to obtain a 
representation withheld from them. The aris¬ 
tocracy of Austria is the pledge that a constitu- 

i 2 



116 


PRINCE M LTTERNICII. 


tion cannot be other than advantageous to every 
class in the empire. That aristocracy is still 
green and vigorous, but it may perish like that 
of France, or wither like that of Prussia, or be¬ 
come demoralized like that of Russia; and then 
popular rights, if conceded or conquered, can¬ 
not be restrained within wholesome limits. 

Every year’s delay in granting a constitution 
to Austria increases the risk and dininishes the 
advantages to be derived from one, which to be 
perfect must be obtained without violence, and 
ought to be granted before being even demanded. 
Austria requires also a constitution in order to 
put her people on a level with their brother 
Germans by exciting their energies, and to give 
her rulers the stimulus occasioned by the pres¬ 
sure of a popular assembly. Austria is suffering 
under the torpor of inaction which paralyses her 
industry and finances: nothing can remove that 
but the people having a legitimate channel of 
influencing the government and directing the 
energies of the country. The progress of the 
rest of Germany has been, and is, materially 
aided by representative rights, and it would be 
much more apparent in Austria because there 
there is the natural check, in an aristocracy, 
against the exuberance of a constitution — there 
there is the safeguard for incapacity or inexpe- 


PH INCE METTERNICH. 


117 


rience on the throne against the encroachments 
of popular ascendency. Viewing the extent and 
natural resources of the Austrian empire, the cer¬ 
tainty that its productions in corn, wool, tobacco, 
hemp, and minerals might be quadrupled in a 
few years, one can scarcely figure to oneself the 
important results to all Europe were the energies 
of the people called into action by a constitution. 
The Italians, Greeks, Poles, Hungarians, and 
Germans would then have one common interest 
to unite them, instead of being merely held 
together by a military system, aided by the 
force of habit, and the personal weight of 
the amiable family on the throne. Russia 
would then cease to be formidable to Austria, 
and would in her turn be disturbed by the 
night-mare of liberalism. Austria little dreams 
what a weapon she may use against Russia, and 
she may be assured that unless she make a 
timely use of it, its edge instead of serving her 
will be turned against herself. Prince Metter- 
nich’s diplomacy will not make Hungary a 
component part of the empire, or produce a 
love for Austria in the Veneto-Lombardo pro¬ 
vinces: a constitution will do both. Count 
Kolowrath’s and Mr. AichofFs financial ability 
will not raise a revenue equal to the expenses of 
the empire: a representative assembly will effect 


118 


PRINCE METTERNICH. 


that result, as well as reduce the expenditure, 
by rendering unnecessary a host of policemen 
and an army of custom-house agents.* 

* Bavaria proposed to Austria to make a commercial 
union with her and Wurtemburg. The union would have 
proved singularly advantageous to Austria in many ways. 
The proposal remained unheeded in the Austrian chancery 
for two years. Bavaria and Wurtemburg then joined the 
Prussian commercial union. This neglect of real interests 
could not have occurred under a representative govern¬ 
ment. 


THE DANUBE. 


J 19 


CHAPTER V. 

STEAMERS -SAN D-BAN KS — PRESBURG-KOMORN-GRAN- 

VISSEGRADE-PEST-MOHACS-BATTLE-PETERWARDEIN 

'—NETJSATZ ~ CARLOWITZ- BATTLE OF SALEMKENEN-THE 

KIUPRIGL1S. 


Colonel Knox of the Guards, whom I met at 
Vienna, was kind enough to propose to be my 
travelling companion down the Danube to Con¬ 
stantinople. This offer ensured me the prospect 
of a pleasant voyage. Accordingly, Oct. 3rd, 
we joined company, and having taken leave of 
our friends, drove through the beautiful Prater 
to the Lust-haus , where, made fast to the shore, 
the Nador steamer awaited her passengers. A 
crowd was already assembled. We arrived just 
in time : the little bell was tinkling, and three 
guns, the signal of departure, were fired directly 
afterwards. At two in the afternoon we cast off 
the warps, swung into the stream, and ran swiftly 
down the river for about an hour, when our pro- 


120 


THE DANUBE. 


gress was stopped by a sand-bank. This acci¬ 
dent, though unexpected by the foreigners on 
board, was by no means an unusual one in this 
part of the river ; at the same time, our captain 
seemed, by his conduct, to be as much confused 
as though it had never occurred to him before. 
He invited the passengers to lend him their bodies 
e?i masse , first at the bow, then at the stern, then 
on either side, to jump and run together, in the 
hope of shaking the vessel free. We strove will¬ 
ingly, but without purpose : we were in a most 
unhandsome fix, as some Americans said. After 
exercising their bodies in this way for an hour, 
the passengers were landed on the beach to exer¬ 
cise their patience, and the cargo was transhipped 
into barges. We remained there gazing on our 
disaster for an hour : some Easterns among the 
party commented on the circumstance as being 
an ill omen for the voyage, which also recalled 
to my recollection a similar annoyance in a boat 
on the Rhone. No one, however, turned back 
to wait for a more favourable conjunction of the 
stars. At five o’clock the Nadoi' gave signs of 
life, to our great satisfaction,—for we were hungry 
and getting cold,—and floated in another half 
hour. We re-embarked in canoes, which gave 
us the additional chance of a ducking. The boat¬ 
men of the Rhine and the Danube seem never to 


THE DANUBE. 


121 


have improved in the art of construction. The 
sun set soon afterwards, the moon appearing at 
the same time, equally round and broad, on the 
tops of the trees in the eastern horizon, as if to 
wish Phoebus good night. As she ascended in 
the heavens, her broad tremulous ray stretched 
along the water, which, ever and anon, where 
points of land broke the ripples, or a canoe 
crossed the brilliant track, danced and glittered 
like the atoms of a kaleidoscope, while the dark 
foliage on the right bank became fringed with 
silver, and drooped in bright contrast over the 
dark rolling stream. We might have fancied 
ourselves occasionally on an Italian lake but for 
the blasts of wind which came fresh and cutting 
to us over the valleys. We might have imagined 
ourselves threading the mazes of the Rhine, but 
for the absence of hills and castles. We continued 
to glide on swiftly, under a brilliant starry sky, 
and at ten in the evening reached Presburg, 
the ancient city where the Emperors of Austria 
are crowned as kings of Hungary. 

The delay of four or five hours in the arrival 
of the steamer, caused a corresponding difficulty 
about obtaining accommodation. The passen¬ 
gers rushed to the various hotels; and Colonel 
Knox and myself, being the last, were nearly 
reduced to sleep anywhere, i. e. on the floor. 


122 


PRESBURG. 


Mine host, however, agreed to put up beds, or 
rather to make “ shake-downs ” for us in a 
large hall, in one corner of which a man, simi¬ 
larly accommodated, lay fast asleep. Silence is 
no quality of an Hungarian hotel. Our friend 
was, consequently, disturbed, but he exhibited 
true German resignation under the infliction of 
untimely intrusion on his slumbers. Having 
been fairly awakened by the opening of doors, 
and by the unavoidable walking and talking of 
the intruders, he was left to compose himself 
again, and we repaired to the saloon, where 
about sixty persons were preparing for dreams 
by supping heartily. After supper we descended 
to our sleeping-hall, and necessarily re-awoke 
our bedded friend. Nothing was ready for us, 
and it required expostulation to get attended to. 
Still not a murmur escaped his lips. At length 
the servants came to arrange beds on chairs, 
but as only one mattress could be found in the 
house, and it not being convenient to divide it, 
recourse was had to our already twice-disturbed 
companion, who lay on two mattresses. The 
maids stormed his bed, with the announcement 
that he must give up one of them; and before 
he had time to remonstrate, or even fairly to 
open his eyes, a mattress was pulled away from 
under him. The next minute saw him on his 


PRESBURG. 


123 


legs. He had seized a sheet for decency, for 
he wore no shirt: the folds fell around him in 
the form of a toga, and there he stood, a classic 
figure of despair, looking at the authors of his 
calamity. Ill-used man ! the sharpest invective 
of antiquity would not have been misplaced in 
his mouth. We scarcely dared meet his eyes 
for shame; nevertheless, could hardly refrain 
from laughter at the astounded air and statue¬ 
like appearance of the poor Hun, still less help 
feeling remorse at the Vandalism of his treat¬ 
ment. Philosophy or drowsiness gained the 
ascendency over his anger;—he slipped back 
to his remaining mattress, and before we had 
taken possession of ours, a snore gave evidence 
that we were forgotten, if not forgiven. That 
snore revenged him, by keeping me awake 
nearly all night. Fancy (we thought) an 
Englishman with regular habits thus treated! 

Fancy (I said to myself) the despair of-: 

he would have gone crazy. 

At six the next morning, we embark again, 
and again, an hour afterwards, ran hard and 
fast on another bank. This was a much more 
serious disaster than the one of the day before: 
we had a full day’s run, 140 miles, before us to 
Pest, where we had expected to sleep, and the 
steamer was crowded with passengers. The 






124 


THE DANUBE. 


part of the river where we struck was narrow 
and the stream ran six miles an hour. The 
vessel was soon dry; the force of the water 
heaped the shingle under her bottom, and sup¬ 
ported her as though in a dock. We landed 
every thing, then laid out hawsers to capstans 
erected on the banks on account of the frequency 
of these accidents. We lightened the vessel, 
however, and hove away at the capstans in vain: 
we might as well have tried to move a church. 
There was no apparent way of extricating the 
vessel. The water soon left her entirely, and 
found its way down in lateral channels. The 
manner in which banks of sand and shingle form 
in the Danube, disappearing in a few hours, to 
be again re-formed, is such as I never saw else¬ 
where : it is partly to be explained by the bed of 
the river being far too wide for the volume of 
water, which thereby has room to flow capa¬ 
ciously. Judicious cuts and dykes, to confine 
the stream in narrow channels, or divert it into 
one of many, formed in parts by various islets, 
would remedy the evil in some measure at a 
trifling cost; and when the importance of the 
navigation shall be truly felt, it will be deemed 
worth while, in some places, where the flatness 
of the shores favours inundations, and conse¬ 
quently levels the banks, to make artificial 


THE DANUBE. 125 

embankments, so as to reduce the width of the 
river permanently. At present the inconve¬ 
nience, especially in autumn, is very serious, 
and I would recommend all persons proceeding 
to the lower Danube to proceed by land to Pest, 
and there embark. They would have a pleasant 
journey, with time to see Presburg and Pest, 
without losing any thing by the change of 
route, for the beauties of the Danube are several 
hundred miles lower down. Our situation on a 
bank in the middle of the Danube with a desert 
looking country around us, was singularly un¬ 
pleasant: we were cast on our own resources, 
deprived of all means of getting away, even had 
we wished to do so. Not a road was near us, 
nor did the Huns invite confidence by their ap¬ 
pearance. Nevertheless, I believe the said Huns 
are a good people, and are certainly picturesque 
objects as they appear on the low banks of the 
Danube, with their broad-brimmed hats and 
loose trousers. We displayed admirable resig¬ 
nation throughout the long tedious day. I doubt 
whether the Germans deserved great credit, for 
they had tobacco, beer, and plenty to eat; but 
we, the impatient English, and the impazien- 
tissimi Americans, were sublime. At four in the 
afternoon, the sight of the Arpad steamer ascend¬ 
ing the river, gave us hopes, soon, however, to 


126 


THE DANUBE. 


vanish : she came up to the left bank of another 
channel separated from us by a sand islet, and 
there made fast. It was clear that she could pro¬ 
ceed no farther that day. In my ignorance of 
the river, I began to suppose that the Nador had 
made her bed for the winter, and that we should 
be transferred to the Arpad. All at once, how¬ 
ever, when things looked at the worst, the bank 
shifted from under her bottom, as though by 
enchantment, and at seven in the evening she 
was again afloat. We hastily re-embarked our 
cargo, and fearing to remain in the treacherous 
spot, hauled over to the other bank, and made 
fast alongside the Arpad to wait for daylight. 
Passing the night proved a more serious affair 
than awaiting it had been, for the steamers above 
Pest have no sleeping accommodations in conse¬ 
quence of the expectations of reaching a town 
before dark. The Nador was full of passengers 
of all nations and stations, with several ladies of 
condition. It was a regular squeeze even for 
sitting room, lying down being out of the ques¬ 
tion. However, good humour and a mutual 
desire to accommodate prevailed, and if we did 
not sleep much, we got through the night plea¬ 
santly, and became the more intimate with each 
other. 

The rain of the night had swollen the river: 


THE DANUBE. 


127 


at six in the morning we continued our voyage 
without fear of any further interruption. We 
stop for a few minutes at Komorn, the virgin 
fortress of the Austrian monarchy, situated at 
the confluence of the Vagus with the Danube. 
We next pass Gran, the archiepiscopal residence 
of the Primate of Hungary, the richest ecclesi¬ 
astic in Europe. On a point of land is seen 
an example of his munificence and taste, in a 
cathedral building at his cost, and designed to 
be second only to St. Peter’s. It was commenced 
in 1820. Near Gran a great battle was fought, 
in 1602, between the Ottomans, and the Impe¬ 
rialists commanded by Count Mansfelt: the 
latter gained the victory, and the town surren¬ 
dered to them next day. The fall of Vissegrade 
followed. Towards evening we passed Vissegrade 
on the right bank. As we looked back on the 
town while the sun was setting, from a bend of 
the river which placed the steamer, as it were, 
on a lake, our eyes were greeted with a scene of 
beauty : rocks and ruins, trees and houses, gar¬ 
dens and churches, position and colouring com¬ 
bined to produce an enchanting picture. At 
ten o’clock, lights on either bow, and a dark 
line in the water, indicate the cities of Bude 
and Pest, connected by a long bridge of boats. 
We shoot through an opening next to Bude, 


128 


RUDE. 


the ancient capital of Hungary, and winding- 
round against the stream, bring up alongside 
the broad and elegant quay on the left bank, 
adorned with fine buildings, including a theatre 
and a casino, which alone indicate the commer¬ 
cial prosperity of Pest. 

Bude, or Ofen, renowned for its university, 
bears also a high historical interest. The cele¬ 
brated Matthew Corvinus reigned in it, and 
formed its splendid library, at that time the 
finest in Europe, a remnant of which still exists 
in the Imperial library at Vienna. Nearly 
34,000 volumes were destroyed at the sack of the 
city by Solyman in 1523. Six years later Sul¬ 
tan Solyman again took Bude on his march to 
besiege Vienna # with 200,000 men ; but not till 
1541 was a Turkish garrison established in its 
walls. Bude was finally wrested from the Turks, 
August 1686, by the Duke of Lorraine, after an 
obstinate siege. Pest, as the transfluvial suburb 

* Solyman besieged Vienna from Sept. 13, to Oct. 15, 
1529. An overflow of the Danube, which checked the 
Turks on their march, gave the Emperor Ferdinand time 
to bring up a body of troops who had fought in Italy ; and 
the same cause enabled the Governor of Presburg to 
destroy the vessels in which the Turkish battering train was 
ascending the Danube. After three murderous assaults at 
a breach near the Karinthian gate, the Sultan retreated, 
having lost 60,000 men. 


PEST. 


129 


of Bade, followed its fortunes, more or less, 
during the long Hungarian wars. Of late years 
it has eclipsed the parent city. Having re¬ 
mained in it only one night, owing to our 
delays on the river, I can say but little about 
it from personal observation ; but I have heard, 
as no doubt my reader has too, that Pest is not 
only an important, but a highly improving city 
—that in consequence of its example a spirit 
of enterprise is animating the Hungarians, whick 
would already have accomplished much without 
the chilling timidity of the Cabinet of Vienna— 
that many distinguished individuals, particularly 
Count Szechini, to whom his country is indebted 
for the establishment of steam navigation on the 
Danube are stimulating their countrymen to use¬ 
ful undertakings—that the Hungarians are ani¬ 
mated by a spirit of inquiry above the Austrians, 
and love to imitate the English—that they have a 
marked sympathy with the Poles, and a hatred of 
Russia—that the recent adoption of the Maygar 
language as authoritative in their councils and 
tribunals, may be regarded as the shadow of 
forthcoming political changes, and be considered 
as no feeble indication that Hungary may be 
inclined some day to set up for herself, unless 
the Austrian government adopt some means to 
incorporate her more intimately with the empire 


K 



130 


DANUBE. 




—and that Hungary offers a vast field for emi¬ 
gration and for speculation, it being highly 
presumable, and nearly demonstrable, that pro¬ 
perty within the influence of the navigable 
streams will be doubled in value before many 
years. 

The next morning at six we left Pest in the 
Zringi, a steamer of eighty-horse power, into 
which our baggage had been shifted during the 
night. The Spanish proverb, “ Bien vienes si 
vienes solo” (Welcome if thou comest alone), was 
in our mouths in allusion to our disasters of the 
preceding days. Our course, however, was now 
clear, and we had no cause to apprehend delay 
for the next 500 miles. The voyage down the 
Danube is divided into five stages, performed in 
as many conveyances. 1. From Vienna to Pest, 
200 miles. 2. From Pest to Drenkova, 510 
miles. 3. From Drenkova to Skela Cladova, 
50 miles. 4. From Skela Cladova to Galatz, 
620 miles. 5. From Galatz to the mouth of 
the river, 90 miles: thence in the same vessel 
to Constantinople. We were exactly fourteen 
days en route , during which we slept on shore 
three nights. The fare for one person, from 
Vienna to Constantinople, is under 13/.: the 
expense altogether may be estimated at 19/. 

From Vienna, as far as Pest, the steamers are 


DANUBE. 


131 


generally crowded, there being considerable in¬ 
tercourse and trade between the places on the 
Danube thus far; but thence descending the 
river the number of passengers is very limited. 
Our reduced party in the cabin, on leaving Pest, 
consisted of Baron Sturmer (the Austrian inter¬ 
nuncio at the Porte) and his accomplished lady, 
with Mr. Isfording, his attache; Count Mazzi- 
pane, a young Hungarian nobleman, and his 
sister Countess Razumofska; Madame Roch- 
stein, an agreeable French woman, widow of a 
Swedish gentleman, going to visit her friends at 
Pera; Mr. Littlefield, an American, and Miss 
Holmes, an American young lady under his care; 
Lieut.-Colonel Knox ; and Mr. Barton, deputy- 
lieutenant for county Fermanagh. The Sturmers 
were old friends of mine, they knew our Hun¬ 
garian fellow travellers, we English were not 
strangers to each other, so thus by mere chance 
we were as pleasantly situated in regard of society 
as if the party had been pre-arranged. I may 
be permitted to say a few more words concern¬ 
ing our companions. Baron Sturmer is known 
to most Englishmen visiting Pera, by his hospi¬ 
tality and by his attention to the English, to 
whom, from circumstances, he is much attached, 
speaking our language fluently. An Hungarian 
by blood, he was born at Pera in the house of 

k 2 



132 


BARON STUKMER. 


his father, the Austrian internuncio of that day. 
He received his education at the oriental college 
at Vienna, and returned to Constantinople when 
fifteen years old. He remained there five years 
as attache to the mission, then quitted it for 
twenty-five years. He returned to Austria 
amidst the second national bankruptcy which 
occasioned his family a loss of 20,000/. W hen 
next he visited Constantinople, it was as the 
internuncio for Austria. In the interval, in 
1817, the Baron was about to proceed as 
minister to the United States, but a sudden 
illness of his lady made him decline the appoint¬ 
ment. I mention this incident to shew on what 
trifles sometimes depend important events. The 
Austrian cabinet in consequence abandoned its 
intention of accrediting a minister to the Presi¬ 
dent, nor was one sent to Washington until 
1838. A personal occurrence, the indisposition 
of a fair lady, caused the formal recognition of 
a great state to be delayed for twenty years! 
What surmises at the time, each farther removed 
from the truth, might not this change in the 
disposition of Prince Metternich, regarding the 
United States, have given rise to ! Shortly after¬ 
wards, Baron Sturmer went to St. Helena, and 
resided there nearly two years as the commis¬ 
sioner on the part of Austria to watch over 


NAPOLEON. 


133 


Napoleon. Neither he nor his colleagues saw 
the ex-emperor above two or three times, and 
therefore might nearly as well have been away. 
The Baron assured me that the charges alleged 
against Sir Hudson Lowe were most unfounded; 
the real nature of the case being that it was im¬ 
possible to please Napoleon, as may readily be 
imagined. The mighty spirit was imprisoned, 
and that expressed all. He could not forget the 
past or forgive the authors of his fall, as appears 
by his will,* in which he left 10,000 francs to 
M. Cantillon, who was tried for an attempt to 
assassinate the Duke of Wellington ; adding, 
that Cantillon had as much right to assassinate 
Wellington as that oligarch had to send him 
(Napoleon) to St. Helena. Napoleon’s ill will 
towards Sir Hudson Lowe was but the reflection of 
his feelings about Lord Castlereagh and the Duke 
of Wellington. History, I presume, will con¬ 
demn the short-sighted policy which doomed 
Napoleon to a lingering death in a tropical island. 
Englishmen must regret in general that his letter 
to the Prince Regent from Plymouth Sound had 
not been answered by an invitation to take up 
his abode in England. That would have been a 

* Napoleon’s original will, written in his own hand, is to 
be seen at Doctors’ Commons. The author read in it the 
passage alluded to. 


134 


NAPOLEON. 


crowning crown to England’s glory. Generosity 
to the vanquished is the noblest attribute of great¬ 
ness. And England would have profited by the 
act. Time, which dispels illusions and rectifies 
prejudice, shews that even had Napoleon sought 
to re-enter France, he could no longer have 
injured England, or even have been inimically 
disposed towards her, while, had he remained 
tranquilly on his parole, his presence alone would 
have enabled the English ministry to dictate 
reason and justice to the courts of Europe. The 
terror of Napoleon in England would have made 
her the arbitress of Europe. Justice might then 
have been obtained for Poland, and England 
have secured for herself the commercial ad¬ 
vantages so eminently due to her sacrifices in the 
cause of legitimacy. In 1820, Baron Sturmer 
went as minister to the Brazils. It would be 
difficult to meet with a more accomplished and 
amiable couple than the Baron and his lady 
(a Parisian), and their presence on board added 
greatly to the convenience of our voyage, by 
procuring for us every attention on the part of 
the authorities in the different places where the 
steamer stopped. 

We had, in another of our companions, the 
Countess Razumofska, an interesting victim of 
an ill-sorted marriage. Daughter of the Conn- 


COUNTESS RAZUMOFSKA. 135 

tess Mazzipane, whose marriage in 1837 with 
the Prince de Wrede, a Bavarian half her age, 
made a great sensation in fashionable Germany, 
she married against the wishes of her friends a 
younger son of the late Prince Razumofska.* 
She brought her husband a large fortune, which 
he gambled away at Naples, where they resided 
after their marriage. He vented his anger 
against fortune on his wife, and treated her so 
ill that she left his apartment one evening in 
fear of her life, and took refuge with a Sicilian 
princess who occupied a floor of the same palace. 
She refused to return to her husband: her 
brother went to Naples to fetch her, and she 
has since resided with him on his estates near 
Peterwardein. She was an accomplished, unaf¬ 
fected, beautiful young woman, twenty-one years 
old. She had one child. She described the coun¬ 
try life of Hungary as disagreeable; no roads 
to connect the villages, with scarcely any society 
in the towns. Hungarian and Polish ladies of 

* The late Prince Razumofska was the Russian ambas¬ 
sador at Vienna during thirty years. He distinguished 
himself by his splendid style, and by throwing a bridge 
over the Danube to connect his house in the environs with 
the Prater. The bridge was carried away soon afterwards 
by a storm. The botanical garden of the Razumofska’s, 
near Moscow, is celebrated. 


136 


DANUBE. 


the provinces are hothouse plants. Possessing 
all accomplishments, versed in the romances and 
poetry of France, adapted by their education 
and manners to breathe freely only in the at¬ 
mosphere of a civilized capital, they pass their 
lives apart from all which resembles them. 
Few contrasts are more striking, or more calcu¬ 
lated to excite painful feelings, than the refine¬ 
ment, ease, and high tone of a Polish country 
house (for example) in the midst of a wild 
country, covered with snow half the year, inha¬ 
bited by serfs in the grossest state of ignorance 
and by sordid Jews, with a sprinkling of spies 
and low-minded officials. One is never sur¬ 
prised to find its inmates longing to get away to 
western Europe. 

We ran down the stream merrily and cheer¬ 
fully, all the day of our departure from Pest, 
through a flat swampy country, which was the 
grave of the flower of the Turkish and German 
youth for two centuries. Recollections of Turk¬ 
ish and Hungarian warfare arise at the sight of 
various towns and villages on the banks, each 
the scene of some feat of arms or treachery, and 
each looking as oriental as any place in Rou- 
melia, with the same intermixture of trees, 
houses, ditches, ruins, and churches. The tra¬ 
ditions and legends of the Rhine are wanting, 


DANUBE. 


137 


but to any one at all versed in the Hungarian 
campaigns—the strife of a century and a half 
between Austria and the Porte for the possession 
of a province—the banks of the Danube are rich 
in recollections. No traveller need exclaim 
“ all is barren !” We bring-to for the night at 
the village of Mohacs, scene of the battle fought 
there in 1525, in which Louis II. king of Hun¬ 
gary was killed, with the archbishop, and the 
principal Hungarian nobility. On the same 
spot, 164 years later, the Hungarians were 
revenged, and the fate of their country again 
decided by a signal victory gained by the Duke 
of Lorraine over the Ottoman army, which was 
followed by the conquest of Transylvania, and by 
the declaration of the states of Hungary that the 
crown of St. Stephen should be hereditary in 
the House of Austria. 

We continue our course early in the morning, 
and at three in the afternoon reach Peterwar- 
dein, which is not inaptly termed the Gibraltar 
of Hungary, considering its commanding posi¬ 
tion and intrinsic strength. Prince Eugene took 
it from the Ottomans in 1716, after one of the 
hottest battles * ever fought on the banks of the 

* The young and gallant Ali Kourmourdji, the Grand 
Vizier, commanded the Ottoman forces. His valour, and 
the impetuosity of the janissaries, nearly gained the victory. 


138 


DANUBE. 


Danube, whose waters might be said to have 
been dyed with blood during the 16th and 17th 
centuries, and part of the 18th. During 250 
years, one constant stream of Turkish soldiery 
was directed on Hungary to perish in its swamps 
and rivers. Add to this the endless, and bloody 
wars in Armenia, Persia, and elsewhere, and 
the frightful diminution of the Turkish popula¬ 
tion is easily explained. 

About two miles above Peterwardein we passed 
by the pretty village of Kamenitz, adorned with 
a Latin and a Greek church, the property of our 
fellow-traveller, Count Mazzipane. We skirted 
the shore in order to look at his villa, which is 
well situated by the water, where the river 
forms a bay, and possesses a large extent of 
park and garden, with hothouses and conser¬ 
vatories. We landed the Count and his sister at 
Neusatz, a large town on the left bank of the 
Danube, connected by a bridge of boats with 
Peterwardein. We were sorry to lose them. 
Neusatz is called the Paris of the Servians, and 
forms, with Peterwardein, an important station, 
political and military. We had not time to 

.The Austrian reserve turned the day. Ali Kourmourdji 
fled to Carlowitz, where he died next day of his wounds, 
aggravated by the mortification of defeat. 


DANUBE. 


139 


visit the fortress, which, as seen from the river, 
reminds one of Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine, 
Neusatz bearing the same relation to one as 
Coblentz does to the other. We steam on three 
hours beyond Peterwardein, and anchor for the 
night. In the morning, at the hour —the point 
of dawn — when the Muezzins summon the 
“ faithful” from their slumbers by the tuneful 
hymn—Allahou ekber, eshedou inneh, Mou- 
hamed resoul Allah, hseya aless aelat, haya aelel 
fellah, Allahou ekber, la illahe ilia Allah,* 
which used to be heard for near two centuries 
on these shores,—we pass the picturesque town 
of Carlowitz, celebrated for its wines, and for 
the treaty of peace signed there between Austria 
and Turkey in 1699, which confirmed Hungary 
to the former, and ceded to her Transylvania. 
A little further on, opposite to the confluence of 
the Theiss with the Danube, we see the little 
village of Salemkenen, the scene of the famous 
battle fought August 20, 1691, between Prince 
Louis of Baden, commanding the Imperial forces, 
and the Grand Vizir Mustapha Kiuprigli. Kiu- 
prigli, the last of a famous race, son and grandson 
of two celebrated grand vizirs of the same name, 

* God is great. There is no God but God, and Mahomed 
is his prophet. Come to pray. Come to the garden of 
prayer. God is great, etc. 


140 


KIUPRIGLI. 


after having restored the fortunes of the Porte, 
which had been nearly wrecked by the disastrous 
retreat of the Ottomans under Kara Mustapha 
from before Vienna, crossed the Save to Belgrade 
to destroy, as he expected, his opponent by a blow, 
and then march on Vienna. After some skilful 
manoeuvres on the part of the Ottomans, victory 
was declaring for the gallant vizir—the tabul 
khani , or band of kettle-drums and trumpets, 
which used always to accompany the grand vizir 
in battle, was heard at the head of the reserve 
advancing for a decisive charge, when a musket 
shot struck him on the forehead. He fell life¬ 
less. The tabul khani ceased its din, and its 
silence proclaimed to both armies what had 
happened. The instant rout of the Ottomans 
was the consequence ; they lost 20,000 men, the 
remainder fled, leaving their artillery, tents, and 
baggage in the hands of the victors. With 
Kiuprigli died the hopes of the Ottoman Porte 
in making head against Christendom. From 
that hour the decline of Turkey has been inva¬ 
riable. Turkey that hour lost her last able 
minister. No man has since been found with 
sufficient probity, talent, and courage to rule his 
own passions, a despotic sultan, and a fanatic 
nation—to manage a petticoat government and 
lead armies—a capacity which was eminently 


KIUPRIGLI. 


141 


possessed by the three Kiuprigli’s who present 
an unexampled chain of hereditary talent.* 

* The Kiuprigli family came into notice during the mino¬ 
rity of Mahomet IV. After the insurrection at Constanti¬ 
nople, which ended in the death of the regent-mother, Sultana 
Kiosem, Mustapha Kiuprigli was appointed to the grand 
viziriat by the officers of the seraglio. The empire was in a 
most distracted state. He restored order in a short time, 
and died at Adrianople at the age of eighty-five. He 
was succeeded in his office by Achmet his son. Achmet 
Kiuprigli made an advantageous peace for his master at 
Temeswar: he took Candia (the siege of which had lasted 
twenty-five years and cost the Turks above 100,000 men) 
September 1669. He was the first vizir who introduced the 
Greeks into affairs of state, and from that hour the Porte 
could not do without their supple intriguing talents. He 
added Podolia to the empire, and advanced as far as Lem¬ 
berg in Galicia. He died in 1676, leaving a greater name 
than his father had done before him. The Sultan offered the 
vacant office to Mustapha the son of the deceased, and on 
the post being refused by the young man on the plea of in¬ 
experience, gave it to his cousin Kara Mustapha, observing 
that any member of the family of Kiuprigli must be worthy 
of it. Kara Mustapha belied the trust. He sacrificed the 
finest Turkish army ever raised, at the siege of Vienna, in 
1683, and paid the penalty with his head. After thirteen 
vears of unexampled disasters, in which various vizirs suc¬ 
ceeded each other, Turkey was saved by the Sultan, Solyman 
II., giving the office of Grand Vizir to Mustapha Kiuprigli, 
who had before refused it. Mustapha proved even greater 
than his father and grandfather, for he was beset with greater 


142 


SEMLIN. 


We soon afterwards perceive the spires of 
Semlin and the minarets of Belgrade. At seven 
a.m. we reach Semlin, a large and respectable 
town seated at the confluence of the Save with 
the Danube. We remained there some hours in 
order to have our passports examined, this being 
one of the frontier posts of Austria, and the ex¬ 
treme point where the Austrian territory lies 
on both sides of the Danube. The governor’s 
carriage came immediately to the quay for Baron 
Sturmer : some of us landed with him, and we 
drove to the quarantine ground, the only thing 
of notice in Semlin. I have a horror of quaran¬ 
tine, the more so because it is in most cases an 
unnecessary evil, though I will say that the 
Austrian government is very reasonable, with the 
annoyance on its Turkish frontier. Quarantine 
makes a man feel the fallacy of the axiom, that 
innocence is the best consolation in a prison. 
This is precisely what causes the vexation in a 
lazzaretto : one is quite well, in rude health, eat¬ 
ing and drinking for two, nevertheless is locked 
up and shunned as though possessed by ten 

difficulties. His name alone sufficed to give the nation con¬ 
fidence. In 1690 he retook Nissa, Widdin, Orsova, and 
Belgrade, and beat Veterani in the field: the next year he 
was following up his successes, when death stopped his 
caieer at Salemkenen, and threw all Turkey into mourning 1 . 

" O 


SEMLIN. 


143 


plagues. We found the establishment extensive 
and apparently well conducted. I had previ¬ 
ously heard of the merits of the superintendent, 
who was then at Constantinople, assisting in the 
arrangements of a quarantine projected in that 
city. The plague cemetery seemed to be well 
filled, which might be taken as proof that the 
disease, though it enters, rarely escapes from the 
lazzaretto of Semlin. 

We had the pleasure of meeting in the lazzar¬ 
etto and conversing with the Princess Milosch 
and her two sons, performing quarantine in 
order to go to Temeswar, where the Princess 
had a daughter married. Her Highness was an 
energetic looking woman, about forty years old : 
she was habited in the Greek style, with a fur 
jacket, a shawl robe, and a turban on. Her man¬ 
ners were those of a soldier of fortune’s wife, or of 
one of those ladies whom Salvator Rosa delighted 
to portray. Her sons were ordinary-looking 
youths; they were dressed in a uniform approach¬ 
ing to the Russian. The Prince was then 
at Kragewitz, his capital, two days’ journey 
from Belgrade. He had just been amusing 
himself with the exercise of a little arbitrary 
power. A merchant having been tried for some 
offence by the tribunals and acquitted, Milosch 
not approving of this, ordered him into his pre- 


144 


MI LOSCII. 


sence to be bastinadoed. The instrument used 
in Servia consists of several sticks tied to 
a handle. Milosch’s eldest son, (one of the 
youths we saw), perceiving that the sticks had 
not due elasticity, fetched another set himself 
and gave it to the operator. Prince Milosch 
had raised himself to power by the energy which 
does so much in popular revolutions: he com¬ 
pleted the emancipation of Servia commenced 
by Czerni George, # and obtained the hereditary 
princedom, at the peace of Adrianople, under 
the protection of Russia. He thought that he 
could stand without Russia afterwards, in which 
idea he was strengthened, it is said, by the Eng¬ 
lish Consul. We heard at Semlin that the insti¬ 
gation of our agent to set Milosch against Russia 
would cause his downfal. Thus it turned out. 
Russia, finding him impracticable, set herself to 
corrupt the senate, than which nothing could be 
easier, for the Servians are proverbially ava¬ 
ricious and fickle, and she was farther assisted 

* Czerni George was born at Belgrade. He rebelled 
against the Porte in order to escape punishment for having 
killed a Turk. His own father opposed his projects, as 
being, in his opinion, calculated to injure his countrymen. 
He even threatened to betray him to the Pasha of Belgrade. 
Finding the old man inflexible, Czerni George blew out his 
brains. In 1804 the Porte acknowledged the parricide 
Hospodar of Servia. 


MILOSCH. 


145 


by the Princess his wife, who, having* become 
estranged from her husband by his reckless pri¬ 
vate conduct, intrigued with the Russian party 
opposed to him. The sequel is known : Milosch 
was obliged to abdicate,* and has since resided 
in Wallachia. 

* His eldest son succeeded him, and died soon afterwards. 
The senate then offered the government to the second son. 


L 






146 


SEMLIN, 




CHAPTER VI. 


SEMLIN-RIVERS-NAVIGATION-BELGRADE-SERVIA AUS¬ 
TRIAN POLICY—SEMEN DR1A — MILITARY FRONTIER-NAR¬ 
ROWS OF THE DANUBE- KASAN-ROMAN ROAD- U IRON 

GATE”-COMPLICATED FRONTIER-ORSOVA. 


Semlin is situated in an admirable commercial 
position. It may become an important city, as 
an entrepot, now it is fairly seen that navigable 
rivers run through the Austrian territory. The 
Danube, the Save, and the Theiss have hitherto 
been so entirely neglected that one might fancy 
that this interesting fact had escaped notice. 
The Save flows into the Danube at Semlin, 
and the Theiss enters it nearly on the opposite 
side. The Danube Steam Navigation Com¬ 
pany intended, as we heard, to commence 
running steamers on the Save and on the 
Theiss in the course of 1839. The Save is 
navigable by steamers to within about forty 
miles of Karlstadt. From thence to Fiume on 
the Adriatic it is proposed to lay down a rail- 


SEMLIN. 


147 


road. A fine military road was opened in 1820 
between Fiume and Karlstadt (a distance of 
eighty-six miles), but the results expected from 
it have not been realized. It may succeed in con¬ 
junction with steam on the Save. The Theiss is 
also navigable for a long way up. Two inland 
routes of commerce will thus be opened, of an 
extent nearly without a parallel in the old world : 
one by the Save and the Danube to the Euxine, 
the other by the Theiss and the Save, in con¬ 
junction with part of the Danube, to within 130 
miles of the Adriatic. But in order to profit fully 
by the first, a free communication from the Upper 
to the Lower Danube—the space comprised be¬ 
tween Drenkova and Skela Cladova—must be 
ensured to Austria. When this is accomplished, 
I imagine that it will be more advantageous and 
economical to send German produce, destined 
for the ports of the Euxine and for Constanti¬ 
nople, down the Danube, than by sea from 
Trieste. The other communication, afforded by 
700 miles of the Danube, by the Theiss and 
the Save, will be available for Hungarian pro¬ 
duce, which ought to find its way into the Eng¬ 
lish market, as well as be in sufficient quantity, 
to render us independent of Southern Russia for 
tallow and corn. It is fortunate that a channel 
from Hungary to the Mediterranean exists with- 





148 


RIVERS. 


out the necessity of passing the Euxine, for in 
the event of the English corn laws being re¬ 
scinded, we may hope that Hungary will see her 
interests, and become a granary for England. 
Corn transported by the Austrian rivers to within 
a few miles of the Adriatic, would be conveyed 
to England at a cheaper rate, and in less time, 
than from the Russian ports of the Euxine, while 
the prime cost in either country ought not to 
differ much. Polish grain is brought over-land 
to Odessa from places 500 miles distant, there¬ 
fore it may be presumed that the land carriage 
in Hungary to the Theiss or the Danube, and 
from the point where the Save ceases to be navi¬ 
gable to the Gulf of Venice, would be of little 
moment. We should by all means seek to be 
independent of Russia for corn, and lean on 
Austria for our supply. We may be at war with 
Russia, but there can never be a difference 
between Austria and England. Austria gladly 
takes English manufactures, which Russia rejects 
as much as possible. Immense results ought to 
flow from the navigation of the Austrian rivers, 
and no place is better situated than Semlin to 
profit by it. I should not be surprised to hear 
some day, that its 10,000 inhabitants are in¬ 
creased to 30,000. 

On the other side of the Save, one mile and 






BELGRADE. 


149 


a half from Semlin, stands on a promontory, 
washed by the Danube and the Save, the city and 
fortress of Belgrade,* the theatre of many memor¬ 
able events during the long wars between Turkey 
and Germany. Before its walls, August 1456, 
Mahomet II., the conqueror of Constantinople, 
met with his only reverse: he was defeated, while 
endeavouring to take the place, by the celebrated 
Hunniades, the champion of Christendom, who 
died a few days afterwards of his wounds. Soly- 
man I. reviewed here, in March 1529, the mighty 
army which he destined for the conquest of 
Vienna, proudly saying that whatsoever had 
belonged to Rome was lawfully his, as he was 
possessed of the capital and insignia of Constan¬ 
tine the Great, master of the world. 

In this city, Kara Mustapha received the firman 
of death in return for his treachery or incapacity 
before Vienna in 1683. Like a true Ottoman, 
he kissed the fatal parchment, and blessed Allah 
for sending him death at the glorious Sultan’s 
hands. The commander of 80,000 men, he sub¬ 
mitted without a murmur to be strangled in the 
midst of his guards by the Capidgis sent from 
Constantinople, thus giving a signal example 

* Belgrade contains 20,000 inhabitants, Servians, Greeks, 
Jews, and Armenians, with a few Turks. 


150 


SERVIA. 


either of blind deference to sovereign will, or of 
implicit faith in the doctrine of fatalism.* The 
Austrians restored Belgrade to the Ottomans for 
the third time in 1791. The works have not been 
repaired since, and are therefore in a dilapi¬ 
dated state. A Turkish regiment garrisons the 
castle, and a Pasha resides there; but the city 
belongs to the Servian government. 

It would have been sound policy on the part 
of Austria to have retained Belgrade as the key 
to the acquisition of all Servia. Her want of 
foresight in neglecting to be prepared in a vul¬ 
nerable quarter for the break up of the Ottoman 
empire, is now lamented by every one. Servia, 
instead of being an invaluable possession to her, 
the guarantee for the free navigation of the most 
intricate part of the Danube, is arraying herself 
in an inimical attitude under the influence of 
the Sclavonic tongue and Greek religion, which 
bind the Servians to Russia. There may yet be 
time for Austria to prevent the irremediable dis- 


* The Viennese pretend that they have the head of Kara 
Mustapha in their arsenal: they say that it was disinterred 
at Belgrade. It is hardly necessary to notice that the head of 
a delinquent Pasha, cut off by the Sultan’s order, is always 
sent to the Sublime Porte, to be exhibited there. I am sur¬ 
prised that Baron Von Hammer should have adopted this 


error. 


SERVIA. 


151 


aster of a close political union being added to the 
religious one already existing between Servia 
and Russia; but for that purpose she must qualify 
her reading of the “ integrity of the Ottoman 
empire.”—France and England simply mean by 
this expression, that Russia is not to call Con¬ 
stantinople hers, which is a wise and statesman¬ 
like view of the question, for in that city lies the 
whole Eastern problem ; while Austria interprets 
it as implying that every disjointed province of 
Turkey is an integral part of the empire, which 
it would be sacrilege to touch. As if a province 
which is ruled by its own princes, either elected 
b}^ the people or hereditary, and in which Turks 
(the nominal masters of it) can neither hold office 
or lands, without one tie to connect it with the 
Porte, except a slight tribute, can be called a part 
of Turkey? As if, when the question is simply 
one of time—whether Austria or Russia is to con¬ 
trol Servia, time being in favour of Russia—Aus¬ 
tria would be breaking faith with the Porte, by 
taking a province for the advantage of civilization 
and of the balance of power and for her own se¬ 
curity , which it is a mockery to say belongs to 
the Sultan! — I doubt if we should consider 
Canada or India a possession of England if one 
or the other were ruled by native princes, and all 
Englishmen were excluded from any participation 


152 


SERVIA. 


in the government, the country being solely held 
to us by the fragile link of a tribute. 

Austria’s supineness about Servia is considered 
unpardonable, even by some of her own “ wise 
men.” She beholds Turkey rapidly sinking: 
she knows the tendency of the Sclavonic popu¬ 
lations everywhere to unite with Russia—as sub¬ 
jects or allies—and she will not, by anticipating 
events, secure a province which, under the influ¬ 
ence of Russia, will cause her immense detriment 
in many ways. The word “ faith with the Otto¬ 
man Porte ” is acting fatally on Austria, without 
conferring any benefit on her ally. While 
Turkey is falling, Russia is the only power that 
takes measures to profit by the ultimate disaster. 
Austria may at last endeavour to interpose, but 
it may be too late. Russia will then probably 
have all the Sclavonic populations in league with 
her, and will make Austria tremble on account 
of her own subjects of the Russian church. The 
occupation of the mouths of the Danube by Russia 
is a case in point. Eleven years ago Austria 
might have prevented that usurpation by a word. 
Can she undo the mischief? Yet that evil is 
trifling compared with the existence of a Russo- 
Servian principality extending several hundred 
miles along her frontier. I mean not to say that 
Russia has any design or even wish to add Servia 


SERVIA. 


153 


to her empire, but her end, as regards Austria, 
will be as surely accomplished, if she sway its 
councils and influence its people by the force of 
religion. Russia has no occasion to occupy the 
province : her object is to prevent Austria from 
doing so. For this purpose she cunningly in¬ 
terposed the barrier of legitimacy, so sacred to 
Austria, by stipulating at the peace of Adrianople 
that the government should be hereditary in the 
Milosch family. This was a skilful arrange¬ 
ment ; it was taking Austria by her weak point; 
but as the Milosches are apparently not destined 
to govern Servia long, Austria may interfere 
without any scruples. She should not allow her¬ 
self to be duped by the flimsy artifice. In Mol¬ 
davia and Wallachia, on the contrary, provinces 
which Russia covets, the prince is elective for 
life, whereby should Russia find it convenient to 
take possession some day, she will commit no 
positive injustice on a particular family. It is 
idle to think of Austria, in rivalry with Russia, 
having the remotest chance of influencing inde¬ 
pendent Servia : religion, habit and prestige are 
against her, as she well knows by the example 
of some of the Sclavonic races under her rule. 
They voluntarily exchanged the Turkish rule for 
hers ; but their affection is merely comparative : 
anv government was better in their eyes than the 


154 


SERVIA. 


Moslem’s, but the Russo-Greek supremacy is 
preferable to any other Christian one. 

One half of the Servian population is subject 
to Austria : the other half is Servian Proper. 
The Servians are of the Russo-Greek religion , 
their liturgy is written in the ancient Sclavonic 
dialect, as in Russian churches. In this respect 
they are closer drawn to Russia than the Greeks 
are ; the latter perform their service in Romaic, 
and in consequence the Greeks established in 
Russia have their own churches, though the re¬ 
ligion in other respects is precisely similar. The 
church books of the Austrian Servians are printed 
at Moscow. The Austrian government ought 
surely to remedy this, by offering facilities to her 
subjects of the Greek church for printing their 
religious books in Austria. It may readily be 
imagined that even this trifle is calculated to dis¬ 
pose the Servians in favour of Russia. The Ser¬ 
vian clergy are in general educated in Russia; 
the upper classes are in the habit of sending their 
children also to Russia for education. The 
modern Servian language is not unlike the 
Russian : it is soft and poetical, as the national 
songs of the country shew. We heard at Semlin 
from the officer of the governor’s staff, in attend¬ 
ance on the internuncio, that every Servian house 
in Austria has a portrait of the Czar, while a por- 


SEItVIA. 


155 


trait of the Austrian Emperor is never seen. The 
hazard which Austria incurs by a Servian princi¬ 
pality, which through the very nature of circum¬ 
stances is inclined to coalesce with Russia, on 
her frontier, is evident; the sympathy which 
necessarily exists between the Austrian Servians 
and the Servians Proper is indisputable. Qua¬ 
rantine as yet prevents much intercourse between 
the parties, but this barrier cannot exist many 
years. Servia has put Turkey in quarantine, 
and consequently must be admitted to free pra¬ 
tique with other states when a sufficient time 
shall have elapsed to admit of her sanatory regu¬ 
lations being considered efficient. Austria pre¬ 
tends that they are inefficient, but this scepticism 
must have a limit, else Servia might as well have 
no quarantine on her Turkish frontier. When 
the intercourse between the Servians on both 
sides of the frontier is free, Austria will be com¬ 
pelled, in self-defence, to add Servia * to her 
empire, or consent to see Russian influence per- 

* Servia is bounded on the north by the Danube, on the 
west by Bosnia, on the south by Macedonia, on the east by 
Bulgaria. The country is fertile, but is badly cultivated. 
There are mines of iron, and, it is said, of silver. There are 
superb forests of oak and fir. The productions are corn, 
tobacco, hemp, and flax. Good wine is made. Servia pays 
a tribute to the Porte, and may be called on to furnish a con¬ 
tingent of troops in an European war. 


156 


DANUBE. 


?> 

manently established on her frontier in a more 
dangerous position than any which it now occu¬ 
pies. Where Russia and Austria come in contact 
elsewhere, religion and habits are either in favour 
of Austria, or not decidedly hostile, but in Servia 
every thing favours Russia:—there is the same 
faith to a letter, the same love of stars and 
embroidery, the same degree of semi-barbarism 
among the lower classes, which inclines them to 
regard the Greek Autocrat with an idolatrous 
feeling. 

The scenery of the Danube below Semlin is 
rather more interesting than above it. Hills 
begin to appear on the Servian shore. We 
passed on the right bank, near the mouth of the 
Morava, Seme'ndria with its curious old castle in 
the form of a triangle, flanked on all sides with 
old-fashioned round towers, above twenty in 
number. Semendria, bearing N.W. 590 miles 
from Constantinople, was the ancient capital of 
Servia: it was built by George Brankovitz, 
prince of the country, in 1335. The Ottomans 
took it for the first time in 1438. The Porte 
still holds possession of it, as a token of supre¬ 
macy over the Danube, as well as of sovereignty 
in Servia. It is like a bauble sceptre in the 
hands of a doting monarch. The left bank in 
this part is diversified with watch-towers of the 


DANUBE. 


157 


detachments of the military cordon, which stretch 
over hills and vales, across swamps and rivers, 
along the frontier of Austria, from the Adriatic 
to Poland, a distance of more than a thousand 
miles. This system of 4 ‘ watch and ward,’ 1 
which includes the entire frontier population,* 
was devised by Ferdinand I. to repel the forays 
and incursions of the Turks, news of which 
could be conveyed from one end of the line to 
the other, by a system of signal fires. Succes¬ 
sive emperors, particularly Leopold I., improved 
on it. Though the original intention no longer 
exists, the cordon is highly useful for the double 
purpose of enforcing custom-house and quaran¬ 
tine regulations ; and an armed militia is thus 
kept up, without expense, from which the 
government can draw, at twenty-four hours’ 
notice, nearly 100,000 troops, who, if not highly 
disciplined, are inured to fatigue, and accus¬ 
tomed to military subordination. We saw a 
specimen of them at Drenkova, a small station 

/ 

* The inhabitants on the borders hold their lands of the 
Emperor on condition of military service, as militia-men, 
constantly enrolled, and always liable to be called out. About 
one-twentieth of the whole number is always on duty. Every 
borderer is enrolled, from the age of eighteen to fifty-five. 
Russia has an imitation of the system in her military colo¬ 
nies on her Eastern frontier. 


158 


DANUBE. 


of the Danube Steam Navigation Company, 
where we anchored after sunset. It being also 
a station of the “ Cordon,” the detachment 
turned out in honour of Baron Sturmer. There 
were about eight men dressed in coarse brown 
garments, hardly to be termed uniforms, but 
which had an uniformity. They were of all 
heights, and presented arms in a way which 
indicated they were more used to present them 
in another direction. Their muskets were good, 
and evidently handled by fingers used to the 
trigger. Such kind of soldiers would be dis¬ 
pensed with on parade, but were just the kind 
of men, we thought, for outpost work, and night 
skirmishing—hardy, enduring, sober, sleepless 
fellows. We had expected to find a village and an 
inn at Drenkova, but the announcement in the 
prospectus of the “ Company,” had relation, 
apparently, to a future state of things. There 
was nothing beyond the guardhouse and a maga¬ 
zine for the service of the steamers. We had, 
however, a compensation in an unexpected treat. 
In addition to the honour of a guard, a salute 
was fired for the Baron, from a battery planted 
somewhere, but where we could not tell. We 
at first thought it was in heaven, for the echo 
among the hills was stupendous, reverberating 
from side to side of the mountain defile, at the 


DANUBE. 159 

entrance of which we were lying, till it rolled 
away like distant thunder. The night was dark, 
rendered darker still by the sombre mountains 
which rose up nearly perpendicular, appearing 
almost to touch the starry vault, and as the 
reports of the cannon rang wildly among the 
mountain tops, multiplying themselves in end¬ 
less variety of sound, from the deep-knelled 
tone to a sharp crash, the delusion was com¬ 
plete—that we were in a calm while a thunder¬ 
storm was rolling over our heads, the reverse of 
the position of the inhabitants of Quito. As the 
dying echoes blended with the evening breeze, 
sighing among the pines, we wished the sere¬ 
nade to re-commence — but wished in vain. 
The stillness of desolation followed, and the 
cold autumnal air drove us below to sup, and 
then to bed. 

Steamers cannot descend the Danube lower 
than Drenkova. At some seasons they are 
obliged to stop at Moldava, a village twelve 
miles higher up. At Moldava, firm sand-banks 
begin to check navigation: below Drenkova, 
rocky traverses obstruct it entirely. 

We quit the Zringi at five in the morning, 
and embark in comfortable boats, covered in 
abaft, and rowed by eight men each. We were 
already in the narrow gorge formed by the 


1 GO 


DANUBE. 


mountains of Hungary and Servia, whose over¬ 
hanging summits obscured the light of morning: 
the river was here contracted to one-fourth of its 
usual breadth, and swept along with violence, 
working itself into eddies and whirlpools, as if 
in anger at the uneven bottom, and the rocks 
protruding in its course. Our skilful pilot 
steered us steadily through this gloomy grand 
channel—one of the locks between the Upper 
and Lower Danube; our bark rushed along 
through the eddying tide, causing us a slight 
sensation occasionally, as we looked on the 
consequences of an overset between perpen¬ 
dicular rocks. All at once the scene changed. 
No change of scene on the stage was ever more 
rapid. We emerged from a dark, foaming, 
phantasma-creating defile, and next minute 
were gliding on a beautiful lake, embosomed 
in a circle of rounded hills, rising with grace¬ 
ful undulation from the water, and wooded to 
their summits. We felt as though transported 
from a wild pass in Norway to a blue sunny 
inlet of a tropical island. I doubt if this spot 
has an equal in the world, this tranquil lake of 
the Danube, with its magnificent outlet—a river 
rushing through mountains — at either end. 
The scenery between Drenkova and Orsova is 
far superior to any on the Rhine, not even 


DANUBE. 161 

excepting the charming interval between Cob- 
lentz and Mayence. The old chateaux, the 
green vineyards, and the pretty villages of the 
Rhine, are wanting; but nature shews herself 
on the Danube in a grander mood, under wilder 
and more impressive forms. Here the atheist 
must acknowledge a God. The river con¬ 
tracted again as suddenly as it had expanded, 
and again flowed in an impetuous foaming 
course, not above 150 yards wide, between 
mountains higher and steeper than those at the 
other extremity of the lake. They seemed to 
rise nearly perpendicular, with their bases 
washed smooth, and polished by the cease¬ 
less action of the water. This is called the 
Pass of Kasan. The traveller, on reaching 
this point, confesses himself repaid for all his 
trouble. We all thought so, and wished that 
some of our absent friends had been present to 
share our pleasure. We landed at a hamlet 
at the entrance of the narrows, in order to in¬ 
spect the road constructing along the left bank 
of the river. The engineer of the works met 
us at landing, and conducted us to one of the 
most remarkable undertakings of modern times. 
The river being bound in by perpendicular 
rocks of considerable height, it was neces¬ 
sary, in order to continue the road along the 


162 


DANUBE. 


shore from Moldava to Orsova, to blast and 
hew away the solid limestone for the space of 
three miles. We found this accomplished. 
The road, covered by the overarching rock, had 
the appearance of a series of sections of vast 
caverns. It hangs over the water at a con- 
siderable height, and is guarded by a marble 
parapet. We walked along it till we came to 
the fortified cave in which a company of Ger¬ 
man soldiers resisted the attacks of several 
thousand Turks for many weeks. We had 
some difficulty in scrambling up to the opening, 
which is twenty or thirty feet above the line ot 
road, commanding it and the river, and were 
obliged to stoop double to get in. When inside 
we found ample room for hundreds of people, 
with natural formed shelves and recesses, in 
which stores might be placed. 

As we leaned on the parapet of the road, the 
view was inexpressibly fine. About 400 feet 
separated us from the Servian hills, which here 
rise up 2000 feet above the water, as bold and 
precipitous as the rocks we were standing on. 
This is the narrowest part of the Danube: 
the river runs blue and swift with a troubled 
surface along the narrow gorge, which appears 
as if chiseled out artificially to let the stream 
escape, and imparts but a feeble idea of the 


DANUBE. 


163 


broad, sluggish, muddy Danube, with flat, 
monotonous shores, above and below the passes. 
The engineer shewed us his beautiful plan of 
the obstructions in the river. Not a rock, or 
scarcely a stone, was omitted. We saw at a 
glance the extraordinary inequality of the 
bottom : the depth varies instantaneously in 
some spots from 5 feet to 125 feet. The plan 
thereby has the appearance of a drawing of the 
comparative heights of the mountains of our 
globe, placed in gradation and juxta-position. 
There must have been a convulsion of nature in 
this spot. While gazing over the river on the 
Servian shore, our thoughts were transported 
1700 years back, by perceiving in the rock the 
sockets for the beams on which rested the 
wooden road constructed by the Romans, who 
thus anticipated the idea of the Kasan road, 
though in a cheaper and less efficient mode. 
We saw, in idea, a legion marching along, and 
rude Dacians bending under the baggage, and 
heard the tramp of cavalry on the hollow 
sounding planks. It is fashionable to extol 
every work of the Romans as an evidence of 
their grandeur, but this can hardly be admitted 
as one. The idea of running a platform or 
gallery for several miles along the face of rocks, 
above an unnavigable stream, is certainly in- 

m 2 


164 


DANUBE. 


genious, but ought not to be cited as one 
worthy of the Romans. Their great works 
were destined to last eternally. The Kasan 
road might be termed Roman, and it will 
endure as long as the rock out of which it is 
cut. The wooden road was in its nature 
perishable, and liable to be destroyed by manj 
accidents; it might have been cut by hatchets, 
or set lire to by the barbarians ; we know that 
it only lasted a few years. I should term the 
wooden road rather a sign of Rome s weakness 
than a symbol of her strength : I think it 
evinced that the Romans doubted the stability 
of their power on the Lower Danube. 

At the same time, no more practicable mode 
than by a road of some description offers itself 
for assuring the communication between the 
Upper and Lower Danube. Three plans for 
overcoming the obstacles in the Danube between 
Drenkova and Skela Cladova, a distance of 
fifty miles, and which consists of rocky traverses 
extending across the river in three places, have 
been discussed. 1. By blasting the reefs suffi¬ 
ciently to allow of the passage of steamers ; this 
was attempted in 1834, by Count Zycheni, but 
without any marked result. More chance of 
success existed in 1833, when the river was 
much lower than had been observed for a cen- 


DANUBE. 


165 


tury : permission, however, was required from 
Vienna to commence operations, and before it 
arrived the water had risen. Competent en¬ 
gineers, however, say that the quantity of rock 
necessary to be removed, is such as will baffle 
all attempts, particularly lower down, at the 
“ iron gate/’ Connected with this, there is an 
amusing anecdote. The Cabinet of Vienna, in 
the intention of blasting the rocks, instructed its 
Internuncio to obtain leave from the Porte to 
commence at the “ iron gate,” which is situated 
within Turkish waters. The Porte, influenced 
by Russia, determined to refuse leave, but did 
not like to offend Austria : it replied, “ that as 
Allah had placed the rocks there, it would be 
impious to remove them.” 2. By cutting three 
canals on the Servian shore, lateral with the 
principal reefs, for vessels to pass through. This, 
though very difficult, might be executed; but 
the project is not favoured on account of the 
ambiguous position of Servia. Servia is Russian 
rather than Austrian, and Russia has a direct 
interest in opposing the removal of the obstacles 
of the Danube. There would be no security 
for the canals when finished. They might be 
destroyed or closed by the effects of political 
intrigue, and thus the communication be cut oft' 
at, perhaps, a critical moment. Austria feels that 


166 


DANUBE. 


she could place no reliance on the Servian 
people. 3. By making a road from Moldava 
to a point below the “ iron gate,” where vessels 
may approach. This project has been adopted, 
and, could it be carried out, would, I think, 
answer every purpose. Could vessels have com¬ 
modious and rapid land carriage from Moldava 
or Drenkova to a point of embarkation on the 
Lower Danube, every practical end would be 
attained. But political obstacles interpose them¬ 
selves, greaterthan those which nature has placed. 
This interesting and intricate portion of the 
Danube is actually bounded by three states—Aus¬ 
tria, Servia, and Wallachia—who have separate 
interests, are exposed to conflicting influences, 
and are divided one from the other by quarantine. 
The complication is perfect, and to increase 
Austria’s mortification, it is her own work. 
She had the game in her hands at her last 
peace with Turkey, and managed matters so as 
to ensure to Russia the advantage of it. On 
viewing the effects of an ill-calculated frontier, 
one cannot help admiring those statesmen who, 
in framing a treaty of peace, pay strict attention 
to a new frontier line : a few acres more or less, 
or an elbow of a river, may be the means of 
leading insensibly to ulterior advantages, or be 
the latent cause of much anxiety and trouble. 


DANUBE. 


167 


In this respect, Russia has been of late years 
eminently skilful ; her Persian and Turkish 
frontiers have been laid down with a regard for 
the minutest contingency which may arise, and 
are in themselves guarantees for further pro¬ 
gress. Austria, on the contrary, by a want of 
foresight, is completely hampered by a compli¬ 
cated frontier on the south-east. As if it were 
not a sufficient evil that the Servian territory 
should form one bank of the narrows of the 
Danube, she is not even mistress of the other 
side; the Austro-Wallachian frontier cuts the 
river above the “iron gate,” the most formidable 
of the obstructions in the Danube, and conse¬ 
quently when the Kasan road shall be com¬ 
pleted to Orsova, it will be several miles short 
of the required extent. It must be carried on 
along the Wallachian territory to reach the 
navigable part of the river. But here difficulties 
arise : in the first place there is quarantine, and 
should that be removed, there will remain the 
uncertainty arising from the political state of 
Wallachia. The embarrassment is complete. 
The question of the narrows of the Danube is a 
gordian knot for Austria : she cannot untie it— 
Russia will not allow her—but she may cut it by 
taking Servia or Wallachia. The possession of 
the former would best answer the purpose, for 


168 


DANUBE. 


evident reasons. Austria would then command 
the entire passage, and might have a port in 
Servia below the rapids. She might then have 
war steamers on the Lower Danube, which 
would be of material service in a war with 
Russia : troops and stores might be sent down 
the river from Vienna to the seat of operations. 

After an hour agreeably passed in sauntering 
and conversing on the Kasan road, we re-em- 
bark in our boats, and row down the pass. We 
see at the extremity of it, on the rocks on the 
right hand, just above the water, an inscription 
in honour of Trajan. The tablet is blackened 
by fires lighted near it by fishermen, but the 
words may be deciphered.* We shoot rapidly 
by this distant memento of Rome, and in a 
few minutes are again on the broad river. The 
Wallachian hills break the horizon, and at 
two p.m. we reach Orsova, the frontier post of 
Austria, within three miles of Wallachia. 

* The following words have been deciphered: Imp. Caes. 
D. Nervae Filius Nervae Traijanus Germ. Pont. Maximus. 


WALLACHIANS. 


169 


CHAPTER VII. 


ORSOVA-MEIIADIA — NEW ORSOVA—THE IRON GATE— SKELA 

CLADOVA-WIDDIN— PASWAN OGLOU-RAHOVA- NECOPO- 

LIS-SISTOW-RUTSCHUK-SULTAN MAHMOUD-MUSTAPH A 

RAIRACTAIt-REVOLUTIONS. 

The population of Orsova consists of about 1000 
souls, chiefly Wallachians. The men of this 
race have a barbarous filthy appearance, but the 
women are quite otherwise : we remarked some 
pretty girls in the streets with expressive counte¬ 
nances and elegant forms, straight and supple, 
though their loose coarse garments were in no 
ways calculated for display. The Wallachian 
ladies—I speak of those in the cities—are as 
remarkable for their good looks as for their 
licentiousness, occasioned by the facilities of 
divorce. It is not uncommon to see a young lady 
with her husband in a saloon at Bucharest, while 
there may be one or two other gentlemen present 
who have stood in the same relationship to her. 



J 70 


ORSOVA. 


The relaxation of morals in consequence may be 
conceived : the spirit of George Sand’s novels 
practically exists in Wallachia. One might sup¬ 
pose that the gifted authoress, for George Sand 
is only the nom de guerre of Madame Dudevant, 
had imbibed her co-sexual ideas at Bucharest. 
The Wallachian senate could not confer a greater 
service on their country than by restraining the 
license. Divorce is a necessary evil, and the 
total absence of it is injurious to society, as is 
witnessed in Roman Catholic countries, but the 
abuse of the privilege, as practised in Wallachia 
and Moldavia, is revolting to every feeling of 
morality, public or private. 

We had some difficulty in getting our party 
housed at Orsova, but succeeded by putting two 
beds in each room. The authorities had been 
apprised of the approach of the Internuncio, 
therefore we had all that the Kaiser Von Oster- 
reicli could furnish in its best style. After dinner 
we engaged a couple of old German carriages, 
with four wild-looking nags tied to each, to go 
to the baths of Mehadia, about thirteen miles 
distant. Our rough Wallach postillions drove 
us along at a fearful pace according to custom, 
never thinking of their vehicle or passengers, 
unless a wheel happen to slip offi or an upset to 
take place. Luckily the road was good. It runs 


MEHADIA. 


171 


along the bank of the little river Czerna, beyond 
which rises the terminating range of the Car¬ 
pathian hills. The drive is beautiful. We ar¬ 
rived too late to perform more than the strict 
duty of travellers, viz. to see j ust enough to enable 
us to say that we had seen the Thermce Herculis. 
Scarcely a soul was on the spot: the hotels were 
closed, and the waiters had flown to other quar¬ 
ters. We had considerable difficulty in making 
ourselves understood by the natives, our German 
friends being nearly as much puzzled as we Eng¬ 
lish with the patois . It appears singular to see 
people strangers in language and manners within 
the pale of their own country: yet this happens 
on every side of the Austrian monarchy. The 
twilight shewed us Mehadia to great advantage : 
the situation is sequestered and delightful; falling 
waters, picturesque rocks, and groves enliven and 
embellish the spot. I doubt if there is a more 
charming bad in Germany: it is a deservedly 
favourite resort of the Hungarians, Wallachians 
and Moldavians, and contains the usual resources 
for health and recreation. The government has 
also an establishment for invalid soldiers. After 
a while, we succeeded in getting admission to the 
baths. We groped our way by torchlight, along 
various subterraneous passages, to the principal 
sulphur reservoirs. The odour, as we put our 


172 


MEHADIA. 


heads over the first basin, nearly knocked us 
down. But, no way discouraged, we followed 
our torchbearers from one basin to the other, till 
we had seen the eight or ten baths which have 
been famous for 2000 years for the cure of scrofu¬ 
lous complaints, as well as for imparting tone to 
the system. In the passages we saw some Ro¬ 
man inscriptions, on tablets let into the rock, to 
the deities of Strength and Beauty. The baths 
vary in mineral strength and temperature. The 
most efficacious one is named after Hercules; 
its source is in a rock a short way up the valley. 

On emerging from the sulphuric region, we 
found the night very dark and our postillions 
inebriated. We were exceedingly embarrassed 
by this unexpected state of things, as we had 
engaged to re-embark at eight in the morning, 
and we knew that the Pannonia steamer was 
only waiting our arrival to leave Skela Cladova. 
The surest mode of reaching Orsova in time for 
the boats appeared to be for us to wait patiently 
where we were till daylight, sleeping in chairs 
in lieu of beds. About this, however, there were 
two opinions. The ladies of our party objected 
to thus passing the night, and proposed to brave 
the risks of the road: while we of the other sex 
apprehended that we might drive into the Czerna 
on our left hand, or roll down an awkward 


DANUBE. 173 

declivity oil the right which we had observed on 
our approach to Mehadia. The ladies, however, 
prevailed: their natural desire to have tea, make 
their toilettes, and lie in good beds, overcame 
our fears for their personal safety in a night drive 
along the bank of a river with unsteady postil¬ 
lions. And they were in the right. We reached 
our modest inn in safetv at eleven, p. m. to the 
great satisfaction of its inmates. Some appre¬ 
hensions were beginning to be felt about us. 

The next morning, Oct. 10th, we embarked 
in the same row boats which had brought us to 
Orsova, to complete the passage of the narrows 
of the Danube. We had accomplished near 
forty miles in this way; about ten miles remained 
in order to reach Skela Cladova, below the “ iron 
gate.” Two miles from Orsova we passed New 
Orsova, a fortress on an island belonging to the 
Turks, and dependent on the Sandjacklik of 
Semendria. At a little distance its position and 
minarets render it a very picturesque object; 
but we passed near enough to have the charm 
destroyed by the dirt and dilapidation every 
where visible. The place was formerly of import¬ 
ance: the Austrians built the fortifications, and 
lost them to the Ottomans in 1735. On a line 
with New Orsova, the Czerna, the boundary 
between Austria and Wallachia, flows into the 


174 


DANUBE. 


Danube. A wretched-looking Wallachian ham¬ 
let marks the spot, and is undeniable evidence 

of a change of territory. 

Having passed New Orsova, we soon entered 
the rapids known by the name ol the “ iron 
gate,” (demir kapou ”) caused by a ledge of 
rock, three quarters of a mile wide and one mile 
and a quarter in length, over which the river 
rushes rather than flows, with a fall of fifteen 
feet in a mile. The passage is dangerous from 
the certainty of perishing if a rock be touched; 
but may be said to be divested of danger by 
the skill with which the pilots (who are brought 
up to the service) steer their boats through the 
serpentine passage. We had the chief pilot 
on board, and his address in guiding us through 
the whirling, chafing current elicited our grate¬ 
ful applause. We did not feel quite at our 
ease, nevertheless; for we felt that one touch 
on a rock would dash the boat in pieces. It 
would be impossible to swim two minutes in such 
a turmoil of water. Once or twice destruction 
seemed imminent: we were rushing end on to 
jagged rocks by which there appeared to be no 
passage: we looked anxiously at the helmsman, 
and felt our confidence in him sensibly diminish. 
We were on the point of touching, when by a 
sudden twist of the oar used for a rudder, the 



DANUBE. 


175 


boat turned half round, nearly losing her equi¬ 
librium as her broadside met the current, then, 
recovering herself, shot swiftly into a deeper 
channel. Again we breathed freely. The pas¬ 
sage, calmly viewed, is sufficiently nervous, but 
by no means warrants the description given of 
its terrors by Mr. Quin and others: these gentle¬ 
men must have looked on with the eyes of 
exaggerated alarm. They could not have barbed 
their thoughts with more awful language if they 
had been hurrying on to the Falls of Niagara. 
When we got into smooth water we looked back 
for our consort with the luggage, and as we 
watched her pitching unevenly, and making 
rapid twists to avoid projecting rocks, felt more 
uneasiness about her than we had done for our¬ 
selves. We saw her position more clearly than 
we had seen our own. She also got safely 
through the “ iron gate, ” and in another half 
hour we reached the Pannonia steamer anchored 
off Skela Cladova, a wretched hamlet in Servia, 
whose inhabitants find occupation for themselves 
and oxen in transporting merchandise between 
the steam-boat stations. A small portion of the 
bank is hedged off for the accommodation of the 
steamers, to allow them to touch at, out of the 
pale of quarantine, when coming from Turkish 
ports. 


I7G DANUBE. 

The Pannonia was a steamer of thirty-six 
horse power, and much too weak for the service. 
A steamer of one hundred-horse power, draw¬ 
ing only four feet water, is the thing required. 
Two miles and a half below Skela Gladova we 
had the gratification of seeing on either bank 
the remains of Trajan’s bridge over the Danube; 
abutments of masonry are visible on the Walla- 
chian and Servian banks, with other remnants 
as though of towers. It is said that remains of 

o 

piers may be seen at low water extending across 
the river; but I doubt the accuracy of this from 
our own observation. There would be no great 
difficulty in rebuilding this bridge : the bottom 
of the river is firm and gravelly; the water is 
not fourteen feet deep at some seasons ; and the 
current, as is always the case below rapids, is 
comparatively still. The relative strength of the 
current at different seasons may be judged of by 
a steamer s progress: the Captain of the Pan- 
nonia told us that he required in the autumn 
five quarters of an hour to perform (descending 
the river) what would occupy him three and a 
half quarters of an hour in the spring: vice versa 
for the ascent. He quaintly observed to us, 
speaking of the current, “ Le acque adesso sono 
stanche (the waters are tired now). 

We saw in the remains of this bridge a 


BRIDGE. 


177 


memento of Rome’s last attempt at increased 
dominion, as well as of her impending decline. 
It was an attempt worthy of the* power which 
made it: it was a daring and a mighty one, 
though the last—like the last bound of the freed 
courser to gain his-native wild — like the last 
swoop of the exhausted eagle to reach her eyrie 
—like the last thrust of the stricken gladiator. 
Trajan produced a greater effect on the minds 
of the Dacians by throwing a bridge over the 
Danube, than the presence of five legions would 
have done. It was at once an evidence of 
power, and of the consciousness of security. It 
was an earnest of the sustained energy of the 
spell— 4 forward ’—which had carried Rome so 
far, and allowed no rest to the god Terminus. 
When Adrian destroyed the proud monument 
of art, he gave a signal that Rome, the oppressor 
of nations, was retreating. The echo of the 
falling arches rang through the wilds of Ger¬ 
many and the wilder fastnesses of the East, 
and aroused the hereditarily nourished feelings 
of revenge against the haughty Mistress of the 
World. The meaning of the destruction of the 
bridge could not be mistaken. A few hundred 
men might have defended it: thousands were 
insufficient to prevent the passage of the river 
afterwards. False calculation! Adrian broke 


N 


178 


LANGUAGE. 


down the bridge over the Danube, and thought 
that if the Romans did not cross the river nobody 
else would. He thereby destroyed the prestige 
of Rome’s infallible advance—the prestige which 
had often stood her in lieu of armies and ramparts 
—which had made the barbarians respect hei 
even when torn by internal dissensions. There 
was no halting-place for Rome with safety : she 
had gained all by conquest, by trampling on 
the rights of every people, and was doomed to 
advance or decline—to continue to inspire fear, 
or be despised. She could neither be loved 
nor esteemed. The bridge over the liber, that 
which Codes defended, marked the commence¬ 
ment of her rise : another bridge, that over the 
Danube, marked the commencement of her fall. 

There still exists by the Danube that which 
might lead one to suppose, did we not know 
the contrary, that Rome had been domesticated 
in the neighbourhood—viz. her language. The 
Wallachian tongue of this day has more re¬ 
semblance to Latin than several of the Italian 
dialects have. This circumstance appears re¬ 
markable, considering that the Romans only 
transiently occupied the province. The anomaly 
may, however, be readily explained by the 
hard condition and exile of the legions stationed 
on the Lower Danube, which caused desertion. 


LANGUAGE. 


179 


Concealment must have been easy in Dacia, and 
in all probability numbers profited by it to escape 
From their wretched existence. Wherever, on 
the contrary, Rome’s power was permanently 
established, desertion was rare on account of the 
certainty of detection, and therefore little or no 
amalgamation took place with the natives. The 
deserters settled in the country, intermarried, 
and necessarily interwove their language with 
the native dialect, and gave it the polished 
form of the lingua, franca , which has survived 
to the present day. We see a parallel ex¬ 
ample in our own time among a similar de¬ 
scription of soldiery — similar with respect to 
privations and cruel discipline—in the desertion 
from the Russian regiments stationed along the 
Caucasian line. On other frontiers, deserters 
incur great risk of being retaken and knouted, 
but they are safe among the hostile tribes of the 
Caucasus. Hundreds of men desert annually from 
the army of the Caucasus, and settle among the 
Circassians. Thus a Russian colony is being esta¬ 
blished amidst the bitter enemies of the empire, 
and the Russian language, or a dialect of it, may 
be found hereafter to exist where least expected, 
while perhaps it will be hardly spoken in parts 
where the Russian power is firmly established. 

The banks of the Danube are flat and uninte- 

n *2 


180 


WIDDIN. 


resting below Skela Cladova ; the left bank is 
diversified, but not embellished, by the wretched 
looking villages, sufficiently indicating national 
degradation, of the Wallachian peasantry. We 
pass the river Timok in the night, the fiontiei 
between Turkey and Servia, and at seven in the 
morning we bring to for a few hours at Wdddin. 
The Pasha immediately sent saddle horses to the 
beach for Baron Sturmer and his friends. W e 
mounted them, and, preceded by a guard of 
honour, rode leisurely up to the saray (palace). 
The dilapidated works and ragged soldiers (400 
in number) gave us no very exalted idea of the 
means of defence possessed by this once cele¬ 
brated fortress. The town presented the usual 
Turkish appearance, being a collection of wooden 
houses, some high, some low, and others pro¬ 
jecting far beyond the rest, with uneven ill- 
paved streets. The inhabitants were up and 
about, and appeared as if obliged to us for giving 
them something unusual to look at. We re¬ 
turned the compliment, and stared at the white 
veils in a very unorthodox manner. 

Husseyin Pasha, the governor, received Mr. 
Sturmer with great distinction : they had known 
each other at Constantinople. We also knew 
him by reputation, as who does not who has 
resided of late years in Turkey. No one could 


WIDDIX. 


181 


be ignorant of the celebrated Aga of the Janis¬ 
saries, who was Sultan Mahmoud’s right hand 
in June 1826. Without Husseyin's aid, and I 
may say treachery to the corps, the Sultan 
could not have succeeded in his historic deed 
—the destruction of the Janissaries. He did 
not, however, long enjoy imperial favour at the 
capital, but was generally afterwards employed 
at a distance. We found him in honourable 
exile at Widdin. The agreeable expression of 
his countenance, and the placid dignity imparted 
to it by a white beard, belied the deeds of his 
hands. I doubt if a Lavater could have detected 
the bloodshedder by these features. Having 
arranged us comfortably on the divan, the attend¬ 
ants brought in coffee, sherbet, pipes, and tea- 
punch. At first the interpreter carried on a 
laudatory complimentary conversation between 
the Pasha and the Internuncio; but that being 
a tiresome process, as irksome to the Pasha as 
to us, he was soon dismissed. Our pipes were 
replenished, a fragrant pastille placed on each 
bowl, a second glass of tea-punch handed round, 
and then conversation flowed in a Christian-like 
manner. Our theme, of course, was Sultan 
Mahmoud and the empire : and Husseyin gave 
us to understand that he considered the former 
as deli (mad), and the latter in an irretrievable 


182 


WIDDIN. 


condition. He said that bultan Mahmoud had 
mainly accelerated the ruin of the empire by his 
pride and obstinacy. He alone had prolonged 
the disastrous war in Greece : he alone had pro¬ 
voked the Russian war in 1828 : he alone per¬ 
sisted in the insane idea of attacking Mehemet 
Ali. We remarked in reply, that it was extra¬ 
ordinary that the Turkish ambassadors at the 
courts of Europe never gave the Sultan good 
advice on their return. “ None of them dare do 
so,” replied Husseyin, “they find out what 
will please him, and frame their words accord¬ 
ingly.” The want of this precaution, I may ob¬ 
serve, had recently caused the death of Perteff 
Pasha: we alluded to it, in order to know the 
Pasha’s opinion about an act which had deeply 
injured the Sultan with all classes in the empire, 
but he begged us not to continue the subject, as 
it was too painful for him. Husseyin asked what 
course the powers would pursue with respect to 
Mehemet Ali, in case of another collision. With¬ 
out giving a direct answer, Mr. Sturmer replied 
that Turkey might expect much from time—that 
Mehemet Ali was an old man, and at his death 
his power would break up. “ I do not trust in 
that,” replied the Pasha; “ Mehemet Ali has 
able ministers, and they will counsel his successor 
equally well.” He appeared to think highly of 


WIDDIN. 


183 


Ibrahim Pasha s talents. After an interesting* 
discussion, we prepared to take leave ; but before 
rising, Mr. Sturmer observed thatHusseyin Pasha 
ought to be employed at Constantinople for the 
good of the empire, and added, jokingly, that he 
should consider it his duty to speak about him 
to the Sultan. This quite alarmed the Pasha; 
“ My dear friends,” he said to us, “ if you wish 
to do me a great favour, never mention my name 
at Constantinople. Stamboulda khalb hasta der 
(the heart is sick at Constantinople). 

Fancy, we said to one another as we rode 
away from the saray, a Mussulman ten years 
ago, disparaging the Sultan before a Christian 
audience! A change, indeed, has come over 
the spirit of the nation. The loyalty and fana¬ 
ticism of the Turks, which made them endure 
so patiently and dare so much, seem to have 
disappeared with janissaries and turbans. 

Widdin has occupied an important place in 
the history of Turkey. The recital of the sieges 
and assaults it has sustained from Austrians, 
Ottomans, and Russians, would fill volumes. 
The Austrians took and sacked it in 1769, but 
lost their conquest in the following year to the 
Turks. In the campaign of 1828 the garrison 
crossed the river, and attacking General Geis- 
mar at Golang, August 18, completely routed 


184 


PAS WAN OGLOU. 


him. Had the Turks followed up their ad¬ 
vantage and inarched on Bucharest, they would 
have cut off* the communication with the Em¬ 
peror Nicholas, who was besieging Varna, and 
might perhaps have changed the face of the 
war. But they allowed Geismar to obtain 
reinforcements. A second action took place 
at Czoroy, September 25, when the Pasha of 
Widdin was beaten in his turn, and retreated 
over the Danube. Widdin, however, is chiefly 
remarkable for having been the seat of the 
celebrated Paswan Oglou's power, which shook 
the authority of the Porte in Europe to its 
centre. Paswan’s father, Omar, had been a 
rebel; had been taken by the Pasha of Widdin, 
and decapitated. He was much beloved by the 
Widdinites, who abhorred the Pasha in conse¬ 
quence. His son, young Paswan, profited by 
this feeling : in 1789 he introduced himself into 
the city, and heading a revolt, obtained possession 
of it. He had the policy to spare the Pasha’s 
life, and made use of his name to secure his 
authority in the province. It were too long a 
story to recount his exploits ; now against the 
Sultan, now co-operating with him, according 
as presents or menaces arrived to him from the 
imperial seraglio. Suffice it to say that his 
name was great, and feared throughout Euro- 


PASWAN OGLOU. 


185 


pean Turkey, when Selim III., intent on the 
organization of a new military force, and on the 
depression of the Janissaries, removed the latter 
from the fortresses on the Danube, and placed 
in their stead garrisons of Spahis and Timariots. 
This took place in 1792-3. Paswan Oglou 
instantly declared himself the protector of the 
disgraced Janissaries, by whom he was eagerly 
joined. The consequence was, that from being 
a partizan, Paswan found himself in the light of 
a potentate. His ambition knew no bounds: 
his authority was soon acknowledged in Servia 
and Bulgaria, and extended itself into Bosnia. 
The Porte became alarmed. It endeavoured to 
negotiate him down, but failed ; then sent an 
army of 50,000 men under the Roumely Valy-ci 
to besiege him in Widdin, in 1796. Paswan 
beat them off, and made a formal peace with 
the Porte. Peace, however, could not last. It 
was soon broken, and civil war raged with 
varying success for two years, in the course of 
which Paswan was besieged in Widdin for five 
months, and would have succumbed but for 
the constancy of the inhabitants to his cause. 
Revenue now stimulated ambition in Paswan s 
mind : he summoned the discontented to his 
standard from all quarters ; his troops entered 
Roumelia, and it is supposed that he aimed at the 


186 


PASWAN OGLOU. 


subversion of the imperial throne. The Porte 
hastily collected an army from Asia, under 
the command of the Grand Vizir: a decisive 
blow was about to be struck, when the death of 
the rebel, in 1800, restored peace. Paswan 
Oglou’s example, however, outlived him; the 
evil effects produced by the spectacle of a subject 
warring successfully against the Porte, could not 
be effaced, more especially as his power was 
based on the discontent occasioned by Sultan 
Selim’s innovations, since followed up with a 
bolder hand by Sultan Mahmoud. Czerni 
George raised the standard of revolt in Servia. 
Ali Pasha made himself for many years Prince 
of Albania. Greece followed in the same 
career; and Mehemet Ali, profiting by the 
example and the faults of his masters, Paswan 
Oglou and Ali Pasha, laid the foundation of 
hereditary independence in the South. 

We steam on all the night succeeding our 
departure from Widdin. We pass three con¬ 
siderable Turkish towns: Rahova, where are 
remains of Roman baths ; Nicopolis, where 
Sultan Bajazet defeated Sigismund, king of 
Hungary ; and Sistow, where the preliminaries 
of peace were signed between Austria and Tur¬ 
key, in April 1791, after the disastrous war in 
which the Turks lost the battle of Rimnik to the 


RUDSCHUK. 


187 


combined army under the Duke of Saxe Coburg 
and Suwarof, and the Russians took Ismael by 
storm. The peace of Yassy, between Catherine 
and the Porte, followed, in January 1792. We 
reach Rudschuk at two in the afternoon. The 
town looked picturesque from a distance, but a 
near approach disclosed a wretched assemblage 
of ruins and filth. We had some difficulty in 
believing that this was the place before which, 
in 1811, the Russians met with so terrible a 
failure as to cause the Emperor to forbid any 
more assaults from being given anywhere. The 
population were assembled on the beach to see 
us, and the old costume being in vogue, the 
scene was oriental: veiled females in the back¬ 
ground, and wild, shaggy dogs, completed the 
picture. The Pasha was at Shumla, but the 
Mir Ollai came on board to compliment Baron 
Stunner and conduct him on shore. We might 
have walked on a plank laid from the vessel to 
the beach with comfort to ourselves ; but the 
functionary would not admit of this absence of 
ceremony : he insisted on our getting into his 
barge, and making a wide sweep in the river to 
the custom-house. Chairs were placed for us in 
a balcony commanding a fine view of the Danube 
and the opposite coast of Wallachia. We sat 
down awhile to perform the necessary duty of 
pipes and coffee. The preceding year, Sultan 


188 


RUDSCIIUK. 


Mahmoud, in a tour of inspection along the 
Danube, visited Rudschuk; he came from Silis- 
tria in a steamer, and narrowly escaped being 
wrecked in a squall. I thought that if any thing 
could have opened his eyes to the state of his 
empire, it would have been the sight of its fron¬ 
tier towns. 1 expressed this opinion to a Turkish 
officer. He smiled at my simplicity. “ Are we 
asses?” he said. “The Sultan saw nothing 
that you see. We swept the streets, furnished 
a house for him, and surrounded him with troops 
and music. He saw nothing but what we chose 
to shew him. Mashallah ! (Praise be to God).'' 
A strolling company of equestrian players hap¬ 
pened to be at Rudschuk at the time: the Sultan 
was delighted with their performances, and 
engaged them to come to Pera, on a salary of 
12,000 piastres (120 L) a month. I saw them 
there afterwards performing every Sunday in the 
great cemetery, to the infinite delight of the 
Perotes and Rayas. The Mussulmans along 
the Danube must have questioned the identity 
of their Sultan when they beheld him, during 
his progress, dressed in a hussar jacket made at 
Paris, and white kersevmere trousers seamed 
with gold lace. An “infidel” could hardly have 
fancied a masquerade more calculated to make 
the Prophet's vicegerent appear ridiculous. 

We scrambled up to the ruins of the citadel, 


RUDSCHUK. 


189 


on an Acropolis. The elevated commandino- 
site accounts for the stout resistance which Rud- 
schuk has often made. From Rudschuk, the 
well known Mustapha Bairactar marched in 1807 
with an army of Albanians to Constantinople, in 
order to reinstate his patron Selim III., who had 
just been deposed to make room for his cousin 
Mustapha III. Selim’s death was the conse¬ 
quence. Mustapha Bairactar wept over his dead 
master, and revenged him by deposing his mur¬ 
derer within the hour. He placed Sultan Mah¬ 
moud II. on the throne instead. The gallant 
Bairactar did not long survive his triumph : he 
made, as grand vizir, an imprudent demon¬ 
stration against the Janissaries, and fell their 
victim in a few months. * 

* The conflict on this occasion, November 1807, was the 
most fearful one that Constantinople had ever witnessed. 
During four days and nights, the city was one wide scene of 
slaughter and fire. The Seymans (partizans of the Sultan) 
and the Janissaries fought with desperation in the burning 
streets, while the fleet bombarded the barracks of the latter 
from the harbour. The Janissaries were victorious. Thev 
demanded the restoration of Mustapha III., and thus sealed 
his fate. Mahmoud had his imprisoned brother put to death. 
He remained the last of his race, and as such the Janissaries 
respected him. Thus in six months two revolutions occurred 
at Constantinople, in which two Sultans perished, and the 
streets ran with the best blood of the citizens. Eighteen 
years later Mahmoud took his revenge on the Janissaries. 


190 


DANUBE. 

< 


CHAPTER VIII. 


GIURGEWO—RASSOWA-CZERNAVODA-CANAL-THE DANUBE 

-BRAILOW-GALATZ-CONSTITUTIONAL ACT —TULSCIIA- 

SOU LIN AH-VARNA-THE BOSPHORUS. 

Leaving the Turkish shore an hour before sun¬ 
set, we steamed across the river to a Wallachian 
village (near Giurgewo), where Mr. Timoni, the 
Austrian consul-general in Wallachia, was wait¬ 
ing to have an interview with Baron Sturmer. 
A troop of well appointed cavalry was drawn up 
on the beach in honour of the Baron. The Hos- 
podar of Wallachia, Alexander Ghika, had also 
sent his aid-de-camp, Colonel Obadesco, to com¬ 
pliment his Excellency, and deliver him an auto¬ 
graph letter expressing his regret that business 
prevented him from coming to see him in person. 
This little variety was very agreeable, and short¬ 
ened the evening, which in a steamer is always 
tedious in spite of whist and chess. In the morn¬ 
ing we passed Silistria, which, as seen from a 


DANUBE. 191 

distance, appeared nearly defenceless : I believe 
it is so, the Russians having removed the military 
stores when they evacuated the place in 1835. 
It sustained a siege of seven months in the war 
of 1828-9, and only surrendered when a heap 
of ruins. This day (Oct. 13) was remarkably 
fine, with a balmy southerly breeze, almost the 
only fine one we had been favoured with since 
leaving Vienna. We passed several large islands 
covered with pelicans. This gave us an oppor¬ 
tunity of rifle practice, but without doing our¬ 
selves great credit: these birds are very wary. 

About noon we arrived at an interesting part 
of the Danube, where it approaches within thirty 
miles of the Euxine, then, turning abruptly to 
the north, flows on 160 miles before finding an 
outlet. Rassowa, a paltry Bulgaro - Cossack 
village, indicates the bend. A few miles to the 
northward, at a hamlet called Czernavoda, we 
saw the canal, which, together with a wall, 
formed the line of defence made by Trajan, 
from the Danube to the Black Sea. One of our 
party, looking at the line on the map called 
Trajan’s wall, and not making out the name, 
asked the agent of the Steam Navigation Com¬ 
pany, a simple Ragusan, who was standing by, 
what it was. He replied, “ Questo b il nowe del 
signore che ha fatto questo canale:" (That is the 


192 


DANUBE. 

name of the gentleman who made this canal). 
This answer diverted us, and to elicit further 
amusement, we asked who this signore was. 

“ Eva un j(intoso ingegnere , che si chiainava Tra- 
jano ,* e pecccito ch ’ e morto pritna d aver Jinito il 
canale (He was a famous engineer named 
Trajan ; it is a pity that he died before having 
finished the canal). The canal extends to within 
eighteen miles of the sea, including two pieces 
of marshy water, meriting perhaps the name of 
lakes. In 1836 the Danube rose unusually high, 
and enabled the Pannonia steamer to ascend the 
canal to the first lake. The water in the canal 
and lakes is without doubt the residue of the 
overflowings of the Danube. The question, of 
late much agitated,—“ Can a canal be cut from 
Czernavoda to Kustendje, on the Euxine?”— 
partly answers itself. For twelve miles the canal 
exists, and merely requires deepening to serve 
all purposes; but thence to the sea lies the 
difficulty, and that is of a nature completely 
to refute those who, misled by the existence 
of the canal, fancy that the Danube once con¬ 
tinued its easterly course to the sea from the 
elbow which it forms at Rassova. From the 
further end of the canal the ground rises gra¬ 
dually and uninterruptedly, for a distance of 
eighteen miles, to an elevation of 163 feet; to 



DANUBE. 193 

which thirty-two feet must be added for the 
difference of level between the river and the sea. 
Baron Finke, a Prussian engineer officer of great 
merit, in the service of the Porte, had surveyed 
the ground, and he informed me that in his 
opinion it would he both very difficult and costly 
to continue the Czernavoda canal to the Euxine. 
That is certain; nevertheless, the undertaking 
is evidently practicable. The only question is, 
would the results be commensurate with the 
expense and labour? The distance from Hun¬ 
gary to Constantinople would thereby be short¬ 
ened by two hundred miles, and the passage 
by Soulinah (now part of Russia) be avoided. 
These are the attainable objects as far as Austria 
is concerned. But in regard to the first, we 
may say that the commerce of Austria with the 
ports of the Black Sea, whatever it may become, 
is not of a nature to render two hundred miles 
more or less of inland navigation of any import¬ 
ance ; her principal trade at present is with 
Wallachia and Moldavia. In regard to the 
second, the political evil of having the mouth 
of the Danube under Russian guns applies 
chiefly to the principalities, for whose trade 
Soulinah would always be the outlet, in prefer¬ 
ence to the canal, were it made. In treating this 
point, we leave Turkey out of consideration : the 

o 


194 


DANUBE. 


question of the Danube, raised in consequence of 
Russia’s usurpation of its only navigable mouth, 
is one which interests Austria, the Principalities, 
and Russia: it gives Russia the power of exercis¬ 
ing a direct control overWallachia and Moldavia, 
and of affecting Austria remotely, as well as 
other nations trading with \\ allachia and Mol¬ 
davia. If, therefore, it is nearly certain that a 
canal per se would not alter the lelations of 
Brailow and Galatz with Soulinah, the object 
aimed at, of relieving the commerce of the 
riverain states from passing under Russian guns 
at Soulinah, would not be obtained.* But 
there is another consideration connected with 
this subject, which I do not think has been 
noticed. This is the physical change which 
might be effected in the Danube itself by cutting 
a ship canal from Czernavoda to Kustendji; 
being nothing less than the formation of a new 
mouth to the river; in which case every thing 
would be accomplished for Austria and against 
Russia, to the detriment, however, of Wallachia 
in part, and of Moldavia in toio. 

* The Danube Steam Navigation Company intended, I 
heard, to establish a transit by land from Czernavoda to 
Kustendji, for the convenience of passengers proceeding by 
the Danube to Constantinople, and vice versa. The passage 
would thus be shortened by two or three days. 


195 


DANUBE. 

It is apparent that the Danube gained its 
outlet originally with difficulty. After running 
above 1500 miles in an easterly, and occasionally 
a southerly direction, it found itself balked when 
in sight of the goal. Checked at Rassova in its 
direct course to the Euxine—only thirty miles 
distant—by the sloping ground of Kustendji, 
it turned abruptly to the north, and found its 
way through the low lands of Wallachia. The 
plane being slightly inclined, scarcely amounting 
to a fall of three inches in a mile, the stream 
flowed sluggishly along, as if averse from going 
north, and at length, resuming its accustomed 
eastern direction, reached the sea through a delta 
by six mouths, of which one only is navigable for 
vessels drawing six feet water, the one called 
Soulinah. Viewing this inertness of the river— 
its reluctance as it were to flow northwards— 
might we not anticipate (if a ship canal were 
fairly opened from Czernavoda to Kustendji,) 
that its volume would diminish above Czerna¬ 
voda, and that, following the new line eastwards, 
the Danube would make its principal outlet at 
Kustendji ? The position of Brailovv and Ga- 
latz would then ere long be signally altered : 
instead of a broad stream, never-failing source 
of prosperity, flowing by their quays, marshes 
would occupy its place. The position of Sou- 
linah would then be worthless. o 2 


]9G galatz. 

In the evening we pass Llirsova, a small and 
decaying town. A fog compels us to heave-to 
a part of the night: it clears away in the morn¬ 
ing, and we reach Brailow, the port of Wallachia, 
at eight a. m., October 14th. A guard of honour 
came to the beach, and a salute was fired for 
Baron Stunner. A fine military band played 
for a couple of hours. The Wallachian infantry 
are well dressed : the fashion is Russian, the 
colour blue. We found the Ferdinand steamer 
j US t arrived from Constantinople. two Eng 
lish officers were on board of her, and a Turkish 
Bey in the service of the Pasha of Belgrade. 
The Bey informed us that Herat had fallen, and 
that Russia had assisted the Schah with troops. 
He made a slight mistake. We changed places 
with the passengers of the Ferdinand, and 
steamed on to Galatz, the port of Moldavia. A 
numerous guard of honour came to the beach 
here also, and a salute was fired. Thus far our 
voyage had been one of triumph for Baron Stur- 
mer. In every town, whether Austrian, Servian, 
Turkish, Wallachian, or Moldavian, all honours 
had been paid him : yet, to our admiration, he 
was the most unassuming person on board ; he 
scarcely appeared to be sensible of them. Having 
witnessed the “ fantastic tricks' of some “great 
men” on board English ships, I was particularly 


GALATZ. 


197 


delighted with the noble unaffectedness of our 
companion. 

Galatz, as well as Brailow 7 , is an improving 
town ; the population and trade of each are 
rapidly increasing. Whatever views Russia may 
or may not have on Wallachia and Moldavia, 
their inhabitants owe her gratitude for having in 
the first place freed them from the rule of the 
Fanariotes, and for having in the second place 
given them a constitution, so liberal as to cause 
great surprise. During three centuries the history 
of the provinces has been a sad record of oppres¬ 
sion : their exuberant fertility, defying tyranny, 
has alone saved them from ruin. In that respect, 
they have resembled Egypt. Nature proved 
stronger than despotism. The Porte had good 
intentions towards Moldavia and Wallachia: it 
left them their councils of state, as existing before 
the conquest, and their municipal institutions. 
But in an evil hour, it nominated Greeks of the 
Fanar to the posts of Hospodar, who proved more 
griping and grasping in their precarious office 
than any nomination Pasha in his. A Pasha 
might be called to account for his injustice, and 
made to disgorge, but a Hospodar had a secure 
refuge from the complaints of his subjects in 
Austria or Russia. In sheltering a Hospodar, or 
interposing with the Porte for his pardon, Russia 


198 


MOLDAVIA AND 


invariably defeated justice. Constantine Mavro- 
cordato offers an honourable exception : he 
enfranchised the serfs in 1735, and fixed on a 
regular tax to be paid to the Boyars.* The 
Porte might suppose that the Fanariote Hospodar 
would be checked by the council of state; but 
in general the wily Greek adjusted matters to 
his own interest, by allowing the membeis to 
have a share of the spoil wrung from the trade, 
industry, and agriculture of the country. A 
uniform state of ill-being was the consequence, 
aggravated every ten years by the provinces 
being the theatre of war between either Russians 
or Austrians and the Turks. This lasted till the 
peace of Adrianople, when Moldavia and Wal- 
lachia were declared independent (saving a tri¬ 
bute to the Porte) under the protection of Russia 
and Turkey. General Kisselef, the Russian 
governor of the provinces during the war ot 
1828-9, established their prosperity by giving 
them a constitution, called an administrative 
regulation, of which the following is an outline. 

* The peasant in Moldavia and Wallachia must give twelve 
days’ work in the year to the lord. The lord must find him 
land and a cabin, for which he pays rent. If the lord sells 
his land, the purchaser must retain the peasants on it if they 
wish it. A peasant may quit his lord on giving one month’s 

notice. 


WALLACHIA. 


199 


The divan, council of state, to remain the same as 
before, as being suited to the habits of the people. 
For the election of a Hospodar, an extraordinary 
assembly to be convened, consisting of deputies 
from each class of Boyars, from the squirearchy, 
from the towns, from the chambers of commerce, 
and from the corporations of artisans — in all 
about 160 persons. These to be empowered to 
elect a Hospodar for life (subject to the Sultan’s 
approval) from among the first class of Boyars : 
the elected to be above forty years old. Each 
year an ordinary assembly to meet, composed of 
deputies, in a lesser number, of the classes above 
mentioned, excepting the chambers of commerce 
and the trades-corporations. This assembly to 
have the right of discussing the projects of law 
presented by the Hospodar, to be empowered to 
return any project with remarks attached to it, 
subject to the right of the Hospodar of submitting 
it again to the chamber with counter observations. 
If the assembly should still dissent, the bill to be 
postponed till the following session. The Hos¬ 
podar to have the right of nominating his minis¬ 
ters, but not of changing them under three years, 
unless for some grave offence proved before the 
assembly. This constitution does infinite credit 
to General Kisselef: I believe the Russian govern¬ 
ment finds it too liberal. Under its influence 



200 


TULSCHA. 


the Moldavians and Wallacliians must be indis- 
posed to swell the Russian empire. 

The Hospodar’s revenues consist in a tax of 
31i piastres (ten shillings) for each health. He 
has a monopoly of salt, and the produce of the 
customs. He has a civil list: the salaiies of 

the employes are fixed. 

The productions of the principalities are vari¬ 
ous and most abundant, particularly in corn, 
wool, and fruits. There are superb forests oi 
timber. The cattle and horses are good, and in 
great numbers. Southern Russia begins to feel 
the competition of Moldavia and Wallachia, and 
I doubt not that in a few years Odessa and 
Taganrok will decline in consequence. Moldavia 
is said to have mines. It cultivates the vine with 
success, and exports good wine. Its race of 
horses is highly esteemed. The Turks have a 
proverb that a Moldavian horse and a Persian 
boy are the two most perfect creations of nature. 

We leave Galatz the same afternoon. Thence 
to the mouth, the river is narrow. We were 
obliged to diminish our speed, and keep a sharp 
look-out, on account of numerous vessels ascend¬ 
ing with a fair wind. At eleven, the darkness 
made it incumbent on us to anchor atTulscha to 
wait for daylight. Tulseha is a Turkish place 
(formerly of strength) situated at the spot where 


ISMAEL. 


201 


the Danube branches out to the sea in three 
principal outlets. It is governed by an Aga, 
who also rents the island of St. George from the 
Russian government, paying for it in timber. 
The Aga at the time I speak of w r as the creature 
of Russia; a month later (Nov. 1838) he received 
a present from the Czar “ for the readiness which 
he had always evinced to comply with the re¬ 
quests of the Russian authorities/’ The principal 
service required of him was to catch and deliver 
up Russian deserters and runaways, who are 
numerous on the Turkish frontier,* and often 
form banditti, finding refuge in the swamps and 
woods of the delta of the Danube. 

We weigh anchor at daylight, and at seven 
reach the point of separation of the Georgian 
and Soulinah branches of the river. The latter 
makes an abrupt angle to the left, and the 
channel is so narrow as scarcely to afford room 
for a long steamer to turn up it. From our 
rigging we get a glimpse of Ismael—scene of 
the fiercest assault and bloodiest slaughter in 
modern times. 

u There was an end of Ismael’s hapless town! 

Far flashed her burning towers o’er Danube’s stream, 

* The Russian government gives a reward of two ducats 
to any Turk who delivers up a deserter, and one ducat for a 
runaway sei f. 


202 


SOULINAH. 


And redly ran her blushing waters down. 

The horrid war-whoop and the shriller scream 
Rose still; but fainter were the thunders grown 
Of forty thousand who had manned the wall. 

Some hundreds breathed—the rest were silent all. ,, 

We steamed along the Soulinah branch, 
through the delta, for about forty miles; the 
ships appearing over the lowland, warping up 
by their crews, rendered the scene very pictu¬ 
resque. The Russian territory lay on both sides 
of us : Russian sentries paraded the left bank, 
and Russian gun-boats lay at intervals in the 
passage. The sight was truly galling for our 
Austrian companions,— this occupation of the 
mouth of their own river. At noon we reached 
the point of Soulinah where the Danube enters 
the sea. A Russian gun-boat saluted us. On 
either side we saw T abundant evidence of Russia’s 
intention to make a grand affair of Soulinah. 
There was a quarantine establishment, a guard¬ 
house, and about 150 dwellings of one sort or 
another, including cafes and billiard - rooms. 
We saw a merchantman on the stocks, and ma¬ 
terials collected for a lighthouse to be erected 
forthwith. The Russian government made an 
attempt to establish a toll on vessels entering 
the Danube, but meeting with opposition from 
other powers, dropped it. When the light- 


SOULINAH. 


203 


house is completed, a toll, or light-due, on all 
ships profiting by it, will be legal. The outcry 
raised at the Russian establishment at Soulinah 
was unwarranted; it necessarily followed the 
occupation of the spot. The Turks had a village 
there (destroyed in the last war), for the purpose 
of attending to the state of the bar, and of pilot¬ 
ing and otherwise assisting vessels. There was 
no trade then to speak of on the Danube, but 
had there been a considerable one, the village 
must have become a town, and would probably 
have been fortified and garrisoned. The power 
in possession of Soulinah is bound to have esta¬ 
blishments there ; they are necessarily entailed 
on her, and having them, no available objection 
can be made to her protecting them by guns 
and soldiers. Pilots are wanted—they must be 
lodged ; barges are required to ship and unship 
cargoes, on account of the bar—their crews must 
be housed ; storehouses and workshops are neces¬ 
sary for the use of shipping. All this should 
have been considered before the Russian eagle 
was allowed to perch on Soulinah, the pos¬ 
session of which is one of the most important 
results of the war of 1828-9. Commerce is 
here opposed to policy. Politicians may protest 
against a Russian town commanding the mouth 
of the Danube, but merchants will vote for it. 


204 


SOULINAH. 


State reasons may exist for wishing Soulinah to 
remain a barren swamp, but the interests of 
trade tend to make it the site of wealth. The 
village we saw will grow into an important city, 
if—as is not unlikely —Soulinah becomes the 
entrepot for the commerce of the Danube. Many 
vessels even now would prefer landing their 
cargoes at the mouth, and taking in another 
there, on account of the obstacles in the naviga¬ 
tion of the channel, and of the ice in winter : 
in times of scarcity in western Europe, cargoes 
of corn might be shipped at the mouth during 
winter, when it would be impossible to proceed 
to Galatz, and this alone would prompt the 
establishment of a depot at Soulinah. In 
summer, vessels might lie outside the bar, and 
load and unload with ease and safety. It is said 
that the bar, on which there is at present from 
ten to twelve feet of water, increases, and the 
Russians are accused of neglecting the obvious 
means to prevent the accumulation of sand, in 
order to ensure the prosperity of Soulinah. I 
cannot say whether the bar increases or not; that 
without doubt is its tendency, unless the action of 
the stream be aided ; but the charge appears to 
be made ad captandum , for the simple reason 
that, were the bar impassable by vessels of 
burden, the value of Soulinah would be materi- 


SOU LIN AH. 


205 


ally diminished. The anchorage outside the 
bar is not. safe at all seasons,—in an easterly 
gale would be perilous. The harbour is inside 
the bar ; therefore the interest of the Russian 
government lies in keeping down the sand. 
Midway, however, in the Soulinah branch, 
eighteen miles from its mouth, there is a bank 
which obliges deep vessels to unload and proceed 
lightened for half-a-mile. A magazine is erected 
on the Bessarabian shore, for the reception of 
cargoes during the transit. I apprehend that 
this bank will increase, unless artificial means 
be adopted to prevent a further accumulation 
of sand. Here Russia may use her power to 
injure the navigation of the channel, and thus 
benefit Soulinah at the expense of Galatz and 
Brailow—compel the merchants of the princi¬ 
palities to have their stores at the mouth of the 
river. Should this happen, the prosperity to 
which Soulinah may rise is incalculable. Russia 
may use this argument in due time to make 
the Moldavians and Wallachians incline to a 
junction with her. She will appeal to their 
direct interests. The comparative importance 
of Soulinah is therefore contingent on political 
events ; it will always be a place of consequence, 
seeing the necessity felt more every year with 
the increasing trade of the Euxine, for a port at 


206 


SOULINAH. 


the mouth of the Danube ; but its full develop¬ 
ment will much depend on the political exist¬ 
ence of the principalities. We may say that if 
Moldavia and Wallachia become incorporated 
with Russia, Soulinah will be of secondary im¬ 
portance—a port of refuge, a convenience for trade, 
when bad weather, or ice, or want of time may 
restrain vessels from proceeding up the river : 
the channel will then be properly dredged, and 
Galatz and Brailow retain their legitimate influ¬ 
ence. But, in the contrary case, the permanent 
independence of the principalities, there is no 
particular reason for supposing that Russia will 
not favour her own town—Soulinah—by neg¬ 
lecting to keep the channel clear within her own 
territory. <£ Has she not a right to do what she 
likes with her own,” she may imply. 

Montesquieu says, “ce sont toujours les avan- 
turiers qui font des grandes choses, et non pas 
les souverains de grands empires.” This is 
peculiarly applicable to Russia. From the time 
of Le Fort, every great step taken by her has 
been suggested by adventurers—adventurers in 
the honourable sense of the word. Soulinah is 
a case in point. The Chevalier Taitbout de 
Marigny,* well known by his able work on Cir¬ 
cassia, saw, when he visited Soulinah, in 1837, 
* The Dutch consul at Odessa. 


SOUL! N AIT. 


207 


the importance of making a permanent estab¬ 
lishment there, “pour mettre les Russes a cheval 
sur le Danube .” He drew out a memoir and 
forwarded it to Count Nesselrode through Count 
Woronzow, who shared his opinions. It arrived 
at St. Petersburgh just at the time when a loud 
outcry was raised about the Danube in every 
paper of France and England. Count Nessel¬ 
rode, in consequence, desired Count Woronzow 
to drop the subject, and to quiet people’s minds 
thereon. Taitbout de Marigny’s flowery memoir 
was put into a pigeon-hole. But the subject 
was not forgotten, and we saw the fruit of it 
fifteen months afterwards. Count Woronzow, I 
believe, traced out the plan of a fortified city at 
Soulinah : as he has the ambition of creating, 
and is fixed in his ideas, he will probably lend 
his influence to foster the nascent establishment. 

We left the placid Danube, which had never 
caused a flutter in our bosoms, and in ten 
minutes were pitching and rolling most un¬ 
happily in the Black Sea. We all felt disposed 
to say with Byron, 

There’s not a sea the passenger e’er pukes in 

Turns up more dangerous breakers than the Euxine. 

There was no occasion to lay the cloth for din¬ 
ner that day : nearly all of us were prostrate : 


208 


VARNA. 


no one could face a dish. The wind increased 
till it blew a gale from the south, accompanied 
with a sea which reduced our progress to two 
and a half knots an hour. This was a sad 
night: I really thought that one of our passen¬ 
gers would have died from sea-sickness. But 
© 

the climate in these latitudes is like the state 
of man — never certain, — tossed to-day by 
gusts of passion, hushed to-morrow in sunny 
repose. In the morning the wind came round 
to the north-west: the sun shone brilliantly on 
the waves, which were now dancing lightly 
under us, and smiling as if to deprecate our 
wrath for their rudeness in the night. W e 
spread our canvass: we steer for the red- 
streaked Cape Calaghriah, and at two in the 
afternoon anchor at Varna. The new fortifica¬ 
tions and the whitewashed walls gave the town 
a brilliant appearance from the offing, but on 
landing, we saw that they were as the white 
syrnars which screen decay; neglect and dilapi¬ 
dation were the characteristics of the interior. 
Even the works were neglected in their ap¬ 
proach to completion, and this made us doubt 
if the fortification would ever be placed en itat 
de sibge. Excepting a battery mounted en bar¬ 
bette , nearly all the fine cannon (180) of large 
calibre, brought from England, were lying on 




VARNA. 


‘209 


the beach, without covering or anything else to 
preserve them from the weather. A number of 
brass cannon had recently been forwarded to 
Schumla from Varna. The Pasha of Varna 
was also there. In my humble opinion the 
Porte was ill-advised to incur the expense of 
refortifying Varna, with so many other subjects 
on hand requiring in a greater degree her soli¬ 
citude. Can Varna check Russia again ? If 
Russia should make another war on Turkey, or 
for any other purpose visit Constantinople, is 
not the sea her road ? She is mistress of the 
Euxine ; she has unlimited means of transport 
at her disposal, 20,000 men are stationed in 
the Crimea, and as many more are within a 
fortnight’s march of the coast. There is a 
defect, in a military point of view, in the works 
of Varna, occasioned, it is said, by old Khosrew 
Pasha having had the vanity to suppose that he 
could improve on the original plan, which had 
been drawn up by an European engineer. He 
took up a pencil, and sketched alterations to 
please the eye, which were adopted. Some 
kind person told the Sultan of this. His High¬ 
ness was very angry : he directed his son-in- 
law, Halil Pasha, to repair to Varna and report 
on the same. Halil was also Khosrew’s adopted 
^on : he wrote to him on the subject; told him 


p 


210 


THE BOSPHORUS. 


that it was all true,-that his fanciful alter¬ 
ations had done mischief, and concluded by 
advising him to make up a story to deceive and 
quiet their royal master. As the steamer which 
carried this answer was descending the Bos¬ 
phorus, the Sultan saw her from the palace of 
Dolma Bachcheh, and ordered her to be hailed. 
He demanded the despatches. Their contents 
made his mustaches curl, and brought disgrace 
on Halil for some months. But Varna gained 

nothing by the disclosure. 

After strolling about the town for a couple 
of hours, the steamer in the meanwhile having 
embarked no end of fowls lor the Constantinople 
market, we leave Varna bay at five p. m. We 
were all in spirits again, and did honour to 
Captain Ford’s dinner. The water was as smooth 
as a mirror, and we proceeded rapidly along the 
coast of Roumelia under a starry sky. In the 
morning, Oct. 17th, we were off the Bosphoius. 
The white castles at the entrance of the strait 
reflecting back the rays of the rising sun, and a 
bluish mist curtaining the hills on either side, 

, scarcely permitted us to distinguish any object 
clearly till we were passing the Symplegades 
rocks, the terror of ancient mariners, which 
mark the commencement of the Bosphorus. We 
saw the remnant of the marble column erected on 


THE BOSPHORUS. 


211 


its summit, in honour of some god or demi-god— 
who is not known. Aided by the current, deep 
and blue, we rapidly passed four white castles 
or batteries, shining on either side in glittering 
contrast with the green hills and deeper-hued 
cypresses above and around them. A many- 
coloured village and a small cemetery for the 
4 ‘Faithful,” are attached to each. The bay 
of Bujukdereh, with its picturesque dwellings 
encircling the stream like a chain of brilliants 
on the neck of beauty, seemed to close the strait 
before us; till, on passing a point, we saw it 
stretch away to the southward, between the 
sequestered village of Therapia, a favoured re¬ 
sort of Franks and Greeks, and the memorable 
“Sultan’s valley,” lying, Eden-like, fragrant 
and cool, beneath a lofty hill crowned with 
a kiosk; memorable for the treaty of Hunkiar 
Skellesi, signed there, in sight of the windows, 
as though in mockery, of the representatives 
of France and England. We approached the 
house of the Russian ambassador at Buyuk- 
dereh, and there lay-to for ten minutes close to a 
Russian brig and schooner of war. Beautiful 
and beatified scenery environed us. The only 
discordant thing visible was our steamer, which 
to have floated in unison with the variegated 
scene should have had her chimney of Nankin 

p 2 


♦ 


21*2 


THE BOSPHOKUS. 


porcelain, and her fire made of sandal wood, 

emitting odorous, pearly vapour. 

A boat shoved up from the shore, and rowed 
towards us : we distinguished in it M. Boutenief, 
the Russian ambassador, who came on board to 
welcome the Sturmers. Their Excellencies em¬ 
braced fraternally. Other boats followed with 
members, male and female, of the Austrian mis¬ 
sion, and there was much kissing and congratu¬ 
lation. We then continued our course down 
the Bosphorus, and entered another silvery lake 
embosomed in hills of all forms—but all graceful 
— covered with fairy-looking villages, among 
which Kandilly, scene of Anastasius’s exploits, 
sits pleasantly in the midst of gardens, while 
arabesqued latticed palaces, retreats of the 
wealthy and beautiful of Constantinople, and 
cemeteries rich with gilding and marble, fringe 
the water’s edge. Presently the towers, which 
had seemed to stop egress at the further end, 
opened apart, and gave us a glimpse of further 
glories beyond the castles of Anadolu Ilissar and 
Roumely Hissar, built by Mahomet II. to com¬ 
mand the strait during his siege of the city. 
Borne on the rapid current, which is here digni¬ 
fied by the Devil’s name, we shot through like 
an arrow. Royal palaces, stately mosques, hang¬ 
ing gardens and queenly villages, rapidly sue- 


THE BOSPHORUS. 


213 


ceeded on either hand, each surpassing the 
other in claims to admiration. A confused as¬ 
semblage of trees, towers, mosques and houses, 
calmly reposing amidst azure liquid and ether, 
filled up the space in the distance : they gra¬ 
dually disentangled themselves, and grew out 
distinctly: cities rose, blending one with the 
other, and rolling as it were over endless hills, 
their outlines traced in the blue sky, and be¬ 
tween two of them our eyes followed a bright 
silver stripe, indicating the Bosphorus, into the 
soft, sunny, island-gemmed Propontis. By the 
time that we reached the palace of Beshiktash, 
where we stopped for a few minutes to salute the 
Sultan, who was either there or at his palace 
opposite, of Begler Bey, the morning mists had 
cleared away, and we gazed on Constantinople 
in all her beauty and loveliness—would 1 could 
say her might! We saw the realization of man’s 
brightest dreams: we felt why the Greeks almost 
prefer degradation there to freedom elsewhere: 
we understood the anguish of the Ottoman when 
exiled from his ghuzel Stamboul. 

Our American companion confessed its pre¬ 
eminence. “ Well,” he observed, recovering 
himself from a breathless gaze, “ this is finer than 
New York ! ” 


2] 4 QUARANTINE, 


CHAPTER IX. 

QUARANTINE-GALATA-PERA-TRAVELLERS COSTUME 

TROOPS—PALACES-BRIDGE-SULTAN A MIHIRMAH PER 

TEFF PASHA-WASSAF EFFENDI-SULTAN MAHMOUD AND 

MEHEMET A LI. 

A quarantine having been projected for Constan¬ 
tinople, we deemed it correct, if not prudent, to 
wait for the health-officers to come on board 
before we landed. We might have waited till 
doomsday. The programme of a quarantine 
existed, it is true, and the regulations had been 
enforced in some instances; but every great 
change in the East is preceded by a fitful aspect 
like that which ushers in a tropical thunder-storm: 
a few heavy drops fall here and there, a wayward 
flash strikes some luckless individual, succeeded 
by a delusive interval of calm, before the storm 
descends in earnest. So with the Constantinople 
quarantine in its commencement: the rigour of 
the law fell on some heedless ghiaour, but did not 


LANDING-PLACE. 


215 


touch any great man arriving at the capital. A 
few days before our arrival, a steamer came up 
from Smyrna full of passengers : among them 
was a Jew, who, either heedless or ignorant of 
the existence of quarantine, landed forthwith 
according to eski adet (old custom). He was 
taken up and shot. An hour afterwards, leave 
was sent off* for the rest of the passengers to come 
on shore. In our case, nobody came near us; 
neither custom-house nor health officers. After 
paying the presumed law the compliment of an 
hour’s delay, we left the Ferdinand, having first 
inscribed our united satisfaction of our treatment 
on board, in a book kept for that purpose by the 
captain. The Internuncio with his lady and 
suite rowed off in the gay state caique of the 
embassy, not without offering some of their fellow 
passengers the advantage of landing in the same 
dignified mode. We, however, preferred a more 
modest conveyance: we hailed a two-oared 
caique; Knox, Barton, and myself poised our¬ 
selves in the unsteady bark, and proceeded to the 
scala at Galata. Here, as usual, a scene of up¬ 
roar and confusion ensued, by the porters fight¬ 
ing among themselves for the honour of carrying 
our baggage, which seemed to belong to any¬ 
body except the owners, as they alone had no 
voice in the removal of it. This scene, of hourly 

* 1/ 


216 


GALATA. 


occurrence, is very embarrassing to a stranger, 
and somewhat alarming, for a Turkish row at 
first wears the appearance of leading to a bloody 
termination, — so fierce the gesticulations, so 
angry the denunciations, of the parties; but it 
always ends in words. On this occasion, the 
skellesi bashi (wharf-master), an old acquaintance 
of mine, soon restored order, shewing thereby 
his pleasure at my return, by laying his thick 
stick of office on the shoulders of the disputants, 
in a manner which we supposed ought to have 
broken them. We loaded three swarthy tur- 
banned fellows, and, followed by them, wended 
our way through the narrow, dirty, ill-odorous, 
yet vine-festooned streets of Galata ; we climbed 
up the steep hill, which, like the stairs at Malta, 
makes one, if not swear, as Byron says, pant 
and perspire in a most ungentlemanlike way; 
we stopped at each favourable spot to gaze over 
the minarets of Tophana on scenes of more than 
earthly beauty, and in due time reached the well 
known boarding house of Giuseppino, up a nar¬ 
row lane off the narrow street of Pera, where 
there are beds without fleas, and fare suitable to 
English palates ; with an obliging master and 
mistress, who will put a stranger in the best way 
of laying out his money in sabres, shawls, pipes, 
otto of roses, and korans, as well as let him into 




PER A. 


217 


the secret of doing and seeing what is not always 
done and seen easily. There are many such esta¬ 
blishments at Pera, but the casa Giuseppino is 
par excellence the English house, and its list of 
English visiters within the last ten years, since 
Constantinople has been included in an ordinary 
tour, from north, south, east, and west, of all 
ranks and professions, is alone a curiosity. Since 
the time of which I write, it has had the honour 
of lodging Prince George of Cambridge, and 
boasts of not having charged His Royal Highness 
one piastre more than would have been charged 
to the simplest individual. In this respect the 
hostelry of the East reads a lesson to the hotels 
of the West, where rank has such a marvellous 
effect on the bill, as I ascertained when ac¬ 
companying Princes Charles and Alexander of 
Solms in an excursion round the Isle of Wight. 
Their Highnesses no doubt concluded that high 
charging was the mode adopted by English land¬ 
lords of shewing respect. We fortunately found 
Giuseppino’s house nearly vacant: one English 
gentleman was in it, and a young Frenchman, 
the Duke de Caylus and Levi, peer of France, 
and a Spanish grandee of the first class. An 
Irish family named Bradshaw, arrived a few 
days afterwards, accompanied by Mr. Mahony, 
a Roman Catholic priest, well known as the 


218 


COSTUME- 


talented Father Prout of Frazer’s Magazine. His 
agreeable, witty conversation proved quite re¬ 
freshing. As one of our companions was an Irish 
Protestant landholder, he and the priest found 
themselves standing in a natural relation of an¬ 
tagonism, and hot and humorous arguments were 
the consequence, at times, on the divan after 
dinner. 

The young Duke was our chief tieat. He 
was a wild eccentric youth, without wanting for 
sense. He loved to dress one day as a Tuik, 
another day as an Egyptian, and thus ride about 
the streets. As these dresses were no longer 
worn by anybody, he appeared as much in 
masquerade at Pera as he would have seemed, 
thus habited, on the Boulevard des Italiens. 
His appearance in the beloved garb proscribed 
by Sultan Mahmoud, made quite a sensation. 
“ Ah !” observed a Turk one day with a sigh, 
after looking at him with attention, “ I suppose 
the young man wears that dress to shew us what 
fools we were to leave it off. The Duke de 
Cay Ins’ father* emigrated at the revolution to 

* The Duke de Caylus is descended, by the father’s side, 
from a bastard of the great Conde; by his mother’s side he 
descends from the Dukes of Levi, lhe Dukes of Levi pre¬ 
tended to trace their descent directly from the tribe of Levi. 
There was a picture in the family gallery before the revolu- 


COSTUME. 


219 


England, and became a colonel in our service. 
At the restoration, the family received an in¬ 
demnity of 3,000,000 francs,—about equal to 
what their revenue would have been had the 
property escaped confiscation. His father died 
when he was three years old. He is thus among 
the few French peers who have inherited the 
dignity, and considering that he obtained it so 
young, may live to see himself the only legis¬ 
lator in France, with a right independent of 
royal favour or popular suffrage. 

There is philosophy in dress. The Turk’s 
observation on the appearance of the Duke de 
Caylus, had relation also to the moral change 
produced by the new costume, which may be 
considered as the index to another order of 
things. While dress distinguished the Turk 
from the raya, he despised his ways, and kept 
aloof from pursuits which debase the mind ; but 
since he is made to resemble him in person, he 
no longer stands out in relief among his race 
when performing a low action—who knows that 
it is not a raya! His attempts at civilization 
lower him in the eyes of the Frank. “ Plus les 
Turcs se civilisent plus ils demennent canaille 

tion, in which the ancestor of the Duke of Levi was repre¬ 
sented as paying the Virgin a visit after her confinement. 
“ Bon jour, mon cousin said Mary to him. 


220 


MEHEMET A LI. 


is a common saying among the lingua-franca 
race of Pera, containing in its own bosom per¬ 
haps the canaille of Christendom. Poor Turks! 
we called you barbarians when you refused to 
conform to our ways; now that you imitate us, 
we call you rogues. We may be right in the 
abstract, but are we justified in blaming the 
Turks for having deteriorated individually and 
nationally in the process to which they have 
been subjected by Sultan Mahmoud ? I think 
not. Man is the creature of circumstances ; and 
those made for the Turks since 1826, have not 
been of a nature to exalt and purify the mind. 
Innovation did that for the Turk which mis¬ 
fortune had failed to do : it demoralized him. 
It effected also that which the Russians had not 
succeeded in doing: it shook the imperial throne 
in the affections of the people. 

We soon perceived that the Sultan was more 
than ever bent on attacking Mehemet Ali. His 
army of the Taurus was keeping itself in wind 
by skirmishing with the Kurds, exciting at the 
same time immense discontent by its exactions. 
All accounts, however, concurred in stating its 
condition to be deplorable. Every man of fore¬ 
sight, whether Turk or Frank, dreaded another 
collision with the Egyptians, but none dared 
give the Sultan good advice. The monarch felt 


.MEHEMET ALT. 


2-21 


so sure of vanquishing his regal vassal, and of 
being assisted in the task by the powers of 
Europe, that he caused his minister, Nourrey 
Bey, to write a circular, Sept. 1838, to the Cabi¬ 
nets of Europe, acquainting them that the time 
was arrived to chastise the rebel, and inviting 
them to assist; and in order to relieve their 
minds about Mehemet Ali, he promised to give 
him a pretty iali (house on the Bosphorus) to pass 
the remainder of his days in. Fatuity could go 
no further. When this dispatch reached Vienna, 
the members of the council were literally mute 
with astonishment. Offer Mehemet Ali, the 
master of 100,000 men, a house on the Bospho¬ 
rus to live in!—the man who, if unrestrained 
by Europe, might have marched to Constanti¬ 
nople as a conqueror, and sat down in the impe¬ 
rial seraglio ! Hafiz Pasha, the commander-in¬ 
chief of the army of the Taurus, wrote about 
the same time a truly discouraging account of 
his army to Sayd Pasha, the minister of war, 
and complained bitterly of the want of doctors 
and medicines. Among other disclosures, it 
appeared that the apothecaries of the army had 
been in the habit of selling their drugs at their 
weight in gold. Sayd Pasha, on this, organized 
a new medical staff, and placed Dr. Maddelena, 
(whom 1 had met at Scutari, in Upper Albania), 


222 


TURKISH TROOPS. 


at the head of it, with a salary of 40,000 piastres 
(400/.) This upset a precious scheme of some 
French adventuring quacks to obtain the mono¬ 
poly of medicating the Turkish army, in which 
they nearly succeeded, through their country¬ 
man, an interpreter of Redschid Pasha. Supplies 
of medicines were sent down, with quantities ot 
other stores, all indicative of another brush in 
Syria. The troops of the Taurus had lately been 
suffering frightfully from typhus. The Prussian 
instructors wrote to their chief, Baron Fincke, at 
Constantinople, that one regiment (2000 strong) 
had lost 900 men by it in the six months preced¬ 
ing the date of their communication, about Sept. 
1838. It was generally admitted that the Turkish 
army gained very little by the presence of Prus¬ 
sian officers. They came too late, and never had 
real power entrusted to them. There was besides 
a total want of non-commissioned officers. 

Thus in the following April (1839), when the 
Sultan finally ordered his army to march on 
Syria, no person in Constantinople, excepting 
one of the ambassadors, doubted of the disas¬ 
trous issue, which lost the Porte its army and 
fleet, and prepared the way for an European 
intervention, the most fatal occurrence possible 
for Turkey. 

We had no occasion, however, to go to Mount 



TURKISH TROOPS. 


223 


Taurus to form an opinion about the Sultan's 
army. The troops in the capital were, if possible, 
more unsoldierly, and certainly more ragged, 
than when I had seen them two years before. 
The cloth of their uniforms was so inferior, that 
we English wondered where such could be found. 
The word job explained it. One Constantine, 
Khosrew Pasha’s doctor, had the contract for 
clothing the army, and had made a handsome 
fortune by it, giving a bonus , no doubt, to his 
master. His mode was, to produce as a sample 
a piece of tolerably good cloth; the price was 
fixed accordingly : but the bales which followed 
were always of inferior quality. 

I was admiring the new palace from the water 
one day : “ Ah ! ” said one of my caikgis (boat¬ 

men), “ the Sultan would do better to spend his 
money in clothing the troops.” “ Hush! man,” 
I observed, “you are one of the old school : you 
are a Janissary.” 

I had seen the commencement of this palace 
(at Beshiktash) in 1834, and now, Oct. 1838, 
beheld in it one of the most elegant constructions 
in the world ; consisting of a graceful union of 
the Grecian and Arabian styles, in perfect keep¬ 
ing with the surrounding objects. Wherever 
Nature has to be ornamented, the Turks appear 
incapable of doing amiss; they cannot build 


224 


TASTE. 


either out of place or out of character; they have 
the eye of taste in all that regards picturesque 
effect. They attain, without effort, the most 
harmonious concurrence of felicities : each rock, 
each tree, each undulation of the shore, is made 
subservient to the general design, or apparently 
adapts itself to it by chance, while the prospect 
from the windows is always all that can be 
desired: the favoured angle of the divan, where¬ 
in, cushioned, the voluptuous Ottoman reclines, 
caressing his amber-tipped pipe, inhaling the 
fragrance of his garden, and watching the 
glancing caiques, or the play of light and shade 
on the hills and water, is always where an 
artist would take his stand to paint himself into 
celebrity. For this reason a Turkish town is 
never built regularly; each man aims at the 
individual enjoyment of fine views; and in a 
contrary sense, the pictorial effect from without, 
rather than convenience, is studied, in choosing 
the sites of public edifices. 

I had thought it impossible to add to the 
beauty of the Bosphorus : T found, however, 
that the Turks had recently effected this, con¬ 
ferring at the same time a benefit on naviga¬ 
tion, by raising stone constructions on the various 
sandbanks in the strait, and which, being under 
water, had often caused vessels to stick fast. 


BRIDGE. 


225 


These constructions, rising about three feet 
above the water, of an octagon form, were sur¬ 
mounted by elegant ornaments: on one of them 
stood an obelisk, surrounded by pillars, con¬ 
nected by iron chains ; on another appeared a 
large classic vase filled with flowers ; on another 
a tree was planted, etc. The charming effect of 
such ornaments in the middle of a broad and deep 
stream may be conceived. The dovelike gulls, 
which, caressed and undisturbed, call the Bos¬ 
phorus their own, found these marks of great 
comfort as resting places. Iron rings fastened 
in the stones serve for ships to hang on by when 
caught by a foul wind in going towards Bu- 
jukdereh. 

Sultan Mahmoud’s building propensity has 
very much improved Turkish architecture, add¬ 
ing to it convenience without lessening its 
originality. The bridge over the Golden Horn, 
built by his orders in 1837, and open gratis to 
the public, is singularly elegant as well as of 
infinite utility. The architect was a Greek. It 
is of wood, raised on floating rafts of solid 
timber, securely moored. It is arched in two 
places to admit of the passage of boats, and one 
portion of the structure is removable in order 
that the ships of war may pass to and from the 
arsenal. There has only once before been a 

Q 


226 


BKIDGK. 

question of making a bridge over the harbour 
of Constantinople, notwithstanding the great 
necessity for one. Michael Angelo proposed a 
plan to Sultan Solyman, by whom it was 
accepted, and was about to repair to Constanti¬ 
nople to carry it into execution, when the Pope, 
ashamed that so great a genius should seek 
employment out of Christendom, made peace 
with him, and agreed to his conditions re¬ 
garding the construction of St. Peters, which 
were that he should not be interfered with by 
any self-important cardinals in the prosecution 
of his splendid designs. Michael Angelo would 
have made a nobler and more enduring bridge 
over the Golden Horn ; one which would have 
been as great a trophy of art as the dome of 
St. Peter’s, but he could not have made one 
more suited to the purposes for which it was 
required. The only fear is that the necessary 
repairs, on account of the lightness of the super¬ 
structure, will be neglected. It was amusing to 
notice that the dogs had established a post on 
the bridge, as in all the leading thoroughfares 
of the city : hitherto the four-footed scavengers 
on either side of the harbour had possessed no 
means of communicating with each other. 

In addition to the palace at Beshik-task, the 
Sultan was building another one higher up the 


MIHIRMAH. 


227 


stream, for his third daughter, who was ex¬ 
pected to be married shortly. I also observed 
an elegant new palace at Balta Liman , built by 
the Sultan’s order for the father of Sayd Pasha, 
his son-in-law. Sayd Pasha was a needy man 
in 1835: he has since married the Princess 
Mihirmah, and he and all his kindred now 
possess fine houses, Arabian horses, and dia¬ 
monds. The Princess Mihirmah, whose nuptial 
festival I witnessed in May 1836, died in the 
spring of 1838 of an attempt to produce a mis¬ 
carriage. This was on account of the Sultan 
having repented of the declaration which he had 
made at the marriage of his eldest daughter, 
Saliheh, in 1834, that royal infanticide should 
no longer be practised, but that, contrary to the 
royal usage, the sons of the daughters of the 
house of Othman should be permitted to live. 
The Princess Saliheh’s boy died opportunely 
about the time when the Sultan revoked his 
humane order, and it was then intimated to the 
Princess Mihirmah that the infant of which she 
was enceinte would not be suffered to live, if 
male. Poor Mihirmah determined to choose 
the least of two evils : she felt certain that her 
offspring would be a boy because her thoughts 
were always dwelling on one, but the cruel 
warning arrived when she was six months 

q 2 


■228 


firmans. 


advanced in pregnancy. The process of alle¬ 
viation, which in Turkey is unattended with 
danger in an early stage, proved fatal to her. 
The Sultan, it is said, was overwhelmed with 
grief at the death of his favourite daughter, as 
well he might be: he immediately issued a 
firman, denouncing the practice of abortion 
throughout his dominions. There was not 
much°chance of its being obeyed, the practice 
being a favourite one with Turkish ladies on 
various accounts. All firmans against national 
usages have ever been inoperative in Turkey, 
and, when enforced, have generally caused 
revolt, or been frustrated by passive resistance. 
Sultan Mahmoud, however, had, for several 
years, ceased to give any attention to the execu¬ 
tion of his firmans, excepting such as related 
to the peculiar objects of his government, viz. 
the extinction of Janissariism and the creation 
of an army. So as he obtained money for his 
pleasures, and had fine weather, and heard 
Mehemet Ali abused, and was called handsome, 
he was satisfied in all other respects. 

Sultan Mahmoud’s hatred of Mehemet Ali, 
and his personal vanity, were his weak points 
during the latter years of his life. By playing 
on these strings skilfully, his courtiers gained 
their ends. Inattention to them cost Perteti' 


PERTEFF PASHA. 


2 29 


Pasha his life, an event which did the Sultan 
immense mischief in the eyes of everybody in 
his dominions, whether natives or foreigners. 

I believe that the tale is not well known out of 
Turkey: I will therefore briefly relate it. We 
arrive at a knowledge of the real character of a 
sovereign by particular acts rather than by the 
policy of his cabinet, while probably there is no 
instance on record of the personal character of 
a monarch having so much influenced the fate 
of an empire as that of Mahmoud II. Perteff 
Pasha (Minister of the Interior, in 1837,) was 
commonly cited as the last of the Turks; that 
is, he was steadily attached to the honour and 
welfare of his country, and, as a true Mussul¬ 
man, disliked innovations on the spirit of the 
* 

Koran. At the same time he was no bigot, and 
his zeal and aptitude for business rendered him 
very acceptable to the European ambassadors. 
Their Excellencies universally regarded him 
with esteem, and considered his possession of 
office as one of the best guarantees for the safety 
of Turkey. Perteff was a reformer, though not 
in the anti-Mohammedan sense introduced by 
the Sultan : he wished to reform rather than 
to innovate : he knew that Turkey had been 
great and prosperous under the rule of the 
Solymans and the Amuraths, and he desired to 


230 


PICTURES. 


return to the ancient, order of things rather than 
force new laws on the people. He therefore 
stood alone among the ministers, and though 
useful to the state and respected by the people, 
he became obnoxious to the Sultan. The par¬ 
ticular cause, however, which alienated his 
master’s mind from him, grew out of the 
Sultan’s picture. My reader well knows that 
the Koran, in the spirit of our second com¬ 
mandment, forbids the representation of any of 
God’s creatures, and in consequence Turkey has 
remained to this hour without picture galleiies, 
or any kind of paintings excepting some high- 
coloured views of Constantinople on the wains- 
coats of the cafenehs and houses. There has 
always been, it is true, in the seraglio, a scroll 
of parchment, containing the miniature portraits 
of the sultans, from the conqueror of Constanti¬ 
nople downwards; but as they were rarely 
shewn except to the intimates of the palace, the 
“ Faithful ” were not scandalized by this infrac¬ 
tion of the law. It was merely a private delin¬ 
quency. Sultan Mahmoud went a step farther 
in 1830, by having his picture taken by an 
amateur artist, an attache of the Sardinian em¬ 
bassy at Constantinople, from which prints were 
struck off and sold in Europe. In the ensuing 
years other pictures of his Highness were taken 


PICTURES. 


231 


and multiplied in copies. Still, no comments 
were made on this Christian propensity of the 
Sultan : the pictures remained in the palace, 
and among orientals the interior of a dwelling 
is sacred from remark. 

In 1837 the Sultan directed that a copy of his 
picture should be placed in each of the barracks, 
and other public establishments. A grand cere¬ 
monial was arranged. Orders were given that 
the pictures, framed in the same way as the 
Greeks frame their pictures of the Virgin, should 
be conveyed across the Bosphorus, from the 
palace of Beyler Bey, in the state caiques; that 
they should be received at the different scalas 
(landing-places) with the honours due to the 
person of the sovereign : the Pashas were to 
attend in state, the troops to present arms to the 
pictures, the artillery to salute them, etc. Per- 
teff Pasha looked on this proceeding not only as 
very foolish, but as perfectly idolatrous, and well 
calculated to bring the Sultan into disrepute with 
the people. He expressed this opinion roundly 
to the Sultan, and besought him to change his 
mind. Mahmoud was obstinate. The pictures 
were received by the authorities of the empire, 
and conveyed to their destinations, as though 
they had been so many living deities. It is 
hardly necessary to remark that Perteff, while 


232 


PEKTEFF PASHA. 


shewing himself a good Mussulman and a faith¬ 
ful subject, betrayed on this occasion a want of 
courtiership. He had reason to repent of it. 
Some' of the courtiers who were kept in check 
by PertefTs probity, took advantage of the cir¬ 
cumstance to lay a train lor his ruin. Every 
man in Turkey, on arriving at power, finds a 
party ready to turn him out, no matter by what 
means. PertefTs opposition to the pictures would 
not have sufficed in itself, but it had accom¬ 
plished the principal end, viz. indisposing the 
Sultan’s mind towards him. His dislike to many 
of the reforms introduced by the Sultan was 
notorious, and he was in the habit of expressing 
his opinions freely on them. He was especially 
opposed to the regular army, which he termed 
an expensive toy. He wished to see it disbanded, 
and the redif (militia) to do the military duty of 
the empire. The regular troops, he observed, 
are not feared by the enemy, and are disliked by 
the people : the redif may be equally despised 
in the field, but it enjoys popular favour. It is 
apparent from this that Perteff was inimical 
to farther hostilities against Mehemet Ali, and 
that was another reason why the Sultan should 

dislike him. Halil Pasha, a son-in-law of 

0 . 

the Sultan, undertook the task of completing 
PertefTs ruin : he commissioned one Husseyin 





PERTEFF PASHA. 


233 


Pasha, a brigadier-general, to go to him, and 
elicit his sentiments. Perteff, who knew Hus- 
seyin intimately, was unprepared for treachery, 
and entered freely on the subject of the army, 
speaking of it in the way above mentioned. 
Armed with this evidence, Halil repaired to the 
Sultan. After a preamble about his duty as a 
subject, his affection as a son, the honour of the 
Sultan's name, and the glory of the empire, he 
unfolded the awful announcement that Perteff 
was in his heart no better than a janissary, 
and confessedly opposed to the Sultan's glorious 
army. I need not inform my reader that the 
regular army, all wretched as it was, was Sultan 
Mahmoud's hobby, on which he especially 
plumed himself. Mahmoud, it is said, started 
off the sofa with rage when he heard that his 
minister had dared to speak slightingly of his 
pet creation. He was about to order him in¬ 
stantly into his presence, but Halil, with Machi- 
avelian art, checked a hasty ebullition, which 
might have given the accused an opportunity of 
excusing himself. He insinuated that Husseyin 
might have erred in his report, it being hardly 
credible that a man of Perteff's sense could 
entertain such wild notions: he begged that 
before anything should be decided on, another 
person might be sent to Perteff in order to ascer- 


234 


PERTEFF PASHA. 


tain if Husseyin’s report was correct or not. 
The Sultan consented to this proposal, and 
Sayd Bey, a page of the seraglio, was selected 
for the delicate mission. The result may be 
anticipated. Sayd, tutored by Halil, found no 
difficulty in leading the unwary Perteff again to 
the subject of the army. Perteff fell a second 
time into the snare—again spoke his sentiments 
freely—and sealed his doom. Halil waited on 
the Sultan the following morning, and said that 
the tale was unfortunately too true ; Sayd con¬ 
firmed Husseyin’s evidence. He added that he 
deeply regretted the circumstance, for Perteff 
was his friend, but his duty to the Sultan was 
paramount to any private consideration. This 
took place at nine in the morning. An hour 
afterwards Perteff, who was coming to the palace 
when met by the capidgi sent in quest of him, 
was on his way to Adrianople. The order for 
banishment was so peremptory, that he was not 
allowed to return home to provide himself with 
necessaries for the journey. He rode that day 
through heavy rain to St. Stephano, where he 
passed the night in his brother's house. The 
next morning he continued his journey, and on 
the fifth day reached Adrianople. His fate was 
soon decided. After ten days, Emin Pasha, the 
Pasha of Adrianople, received the firman of 


PERTEFF PASHA. 


235 


death. He sent for his prisoner, shewed him 
the warrant, and courteously bid him choose 
his mode of dying. Perteff asked for coffee. 
The poisoned draft was soon prepared. Perteff 
drank it in the Pasha's presence, and then retired 
to his own lodging to die. The much extolled 
firmness of Socrates is often surpassed by some 
stoical Osmanley. Not hearing of the result in 
the course of an hour, Emin Pasha became un¬ 
easy, and sent to inquire after the victim of court 
intrigue. The messenger reported that Perteff 
gave no signs of death, that apparently the poison 
wanted strength. Emin then gave orders to 
smother him : this was done, and the head sent 
to Constantinople. 

Perteff’s son-in-law, Wassaf Effendi, a divan 
effendisi, or secretary of the imperial council, was 
involved in his fate ; he was put to death about 
the same time at Varna, and his body thrown on 
the beach to the dogs. I had known Wassaf 
Effendi in the autumn of 1835, when we lay en¬ 
camped together in Upper Albania, and I cannot 
express how shocked I felt at hearing of the death, 
so little to be expected in that way, of one whose 
talents, gentlemanly demeanour, and liberal 
sentiments, had marked him as likely to arrive 
at, and retain, the highest honours of the state. 
Each of these men was a loss to Turkey. 


236 


SULTAN MAHMOUD. 


The barbarity of their execution struck all 
Turkey with horror. The warmest partizans of 
the Sultan scarcely ventured to defend the act, 
which savoured of the worst era of despotism. 
They endeavoured, however, to shew that the 
victims deserved their fate on account of official 
corruption. That accusation applies to all men 
in office in Turkey. Still, admitting that they 
were guilty, which never appeared, it was justly 
argued that it ill became the Sultan, who prided 
himself, and was extolled, for having entered the 
ways of civilization, to put his ministers thus 
treacherously to death. By this act, Mahmoud 
raised himself enemies from among his own party, 
and had he not died on the following year, he 
might have had reason to apprehend assassi¬ 
nation. He had become capricious, like Paul 
of Russia, which, added to his innate rigour, 
made him truly an object of dread. 

Some months before Perteff’s fall, the Sultan 
sent him the plan of a palace, on a large scale, 
with orders to build one on a vacant place 
in Stamboul, which required to be filled up. 
Perteff observed that he had no occasion for such 
a residence ; he lived quietly with one wife. 
However, he submitted to the bleeding with a 
good grace. At his death, the palace, which was 
nearly finished, became the Sultan s by law, with 


SULTAN MAHMOUD. 


‘237 


all the deceased’s property. The Sultan directed 
Akkif Effendi to complete the structure, and 
furnish it handsomely. When finished, he made 
it a present to his sister, Esmeh Sultana. 

A short time afterwards, the Sultan observed 
a house at Scutari which pleased him. He sent 
to the owner (a ridjal , or Turkish noble) to know 
its value, as he wished to purchase it. The 
owner was simple enough to take the Sultan's 
words literally, and sent in an account of the 
price. The Sultan was incensed at the man’s 
insolence. He ordered the house to be seized, 
and exiled its master as a punishment for not 
having been too happy to give his dwelling to his 
sovereign. The poor fellow was allowed to com¬ 
pound for banishment by paying a fine of 300,000 
piastres (3000/.), his house at the same time being- 
given to Sayd Pasha, a son-in-law of the Sultan. 
It was certainly very foolish on his part to suppose 
for one moment that the Sultan intended to 
buy his house; the offer was only meant to give 
him an opportunity of laying it at the royal feet; 
it always having been the custom of eastern kings 
to consider the property of their subjects as their 
own, and individuals as being highly honoured 
from whom any thing was demanded. 

Such were a few of Sultan Mahmoud's acts 
during the few months which preceded the 


238 


SULTAN MAHMOUD, AND 


wildest, and (save one) the most fatal act of his 
life, viz. his attack on Mehemet Ali in the spring 
of 1839; an act which can only be accounted for 
by presuming that anger at his great vassal’s 
ambition, and the desire to humble him, had 
partially disordered his intellect; and can only 
be partly excused by his reliance, induced by 
the avowed sentiments of certain diplomatists at 
Constantinople, on the aid of one or other of 
the great Powers. But for that prospect, not¬ 
withstanding his eagerness to march on Syria, 
it is doubtful whether he would have risked 
his all on one cast. 

I need not discuss the question who was the 
aggressor, the Sultan or Mehemet Ali: the result 
which might have been expected, is what we 
have to consider, and that comprised the de¬ 
struction of the third army raised by Sultan 
Mahmoud, at the expense of much treasure and 
discontent, the transfer of his fleet from the 
Dardanelles to Alexandria, and the development 
of disorganization in Roumelia and Asia Minor. 
At the same time I may say that it is notorious 
to everybody in the East that the Ottomans 
committed the first aggression. The govern¬ 
ment of Syria having been guaranteed to Me¬ 
hemet Ali by the “agreement” of Kiutaya, in 
1833, at which envoys from the Russian, French 


MEH EMET ALT. 


239 


and English ambassadors, at Constantinople, 
assisted, he had a right to expect to be left 
undisturbed by the Sultan, and, further, to 
hope that the great Powers would insist on 
Mahmoud adhering to the “convention” made 
with him under their auspices, after the battles 
of Homs and Koriah had laid the empire at 
his feet. So far from that being the case, the 
Sultan never ceased to intrigue against him in 

O O 

Syria, nor concealed his intention of wresting 
the province from him if possible ; and it is well 
known that emissaries from one of the European 
ambassadors at Constantinople aided the Sultan’s 
views by exciting the Druses against the Egyp¬ 
tian government. This obliged Mehemet Ali 
to maintain a large army on foot, at a ruinous 
expense to himself and people, who necessarily 
felt his government oppressive in consequence. 
And when the Sultan’s army finally reached the 
Syrian frontier in May 1839, and crossed the 
Euphrates, it began operations by inciting the 
Syrians to revolt. Sixty villages obeyed the 
call of Hafiz Pasha to throw off Mehemet Ali’s 
yoke : the Turkish army supplied them with 
arms, and their commander-in-chief rewarded 
the ayans (notables) with pelisses of honour. 
Ibrahim Pasha forbore for nearly a month to 
repel this open and peculiarly dangerous hosti- 


240 


MEHEMET A LI. 


lity, which placed him in a position of imminent 
peril. At length, June 24, when forbearance 
any longer would have been folly on his part, 
and have compromised himself and his father, 
he attacked the Ottomans at the village of Nezib, 
and in two hours routed and drove them over 
the Euphrates. He was about to march into 
Asia Minor, when an aid-de-camp of Marshal 
Soult arrived at his head quarters, and dissuaded 
him from this step. He rested on his laurels, 
and Mehemet Ali waited in expectation that 
Europe would admit his claim to the hereditary 
government of Egypt and Syria. The old Pasha 
deceived himself, as well as committed a great 
mistake. Had he declared his independence 
directly after the victory, there can be no doubt 
—so strong was the popular feeling in France 
in his favour—the French government would 
have acknowledged him. Instead of adopting 
this bold and prudent course, which would pro¬ 
bably have compelled England to favour his 
views, he temporized in the hopes of obtaining 
from her good-will what necessity alone will 
draw from her, and allowed his fortunes to be 
entangled in a diplomatic web from which it 
will require all his talents to extricate them. 

Sultan Mahmoud lived long enough, though 
not till the news of the battle of Nezib arrived, 


SULTAN MAHMOUD. 


241 


to know how fatally he had erred in the estimate 
of his own resources, and how grievously he 
had miscalculated on the assistance of others. 
His death-bed exhibited a melancholy picture of 
disappointed pride, impotent revenge, and hope¬ 
less despondency. When he besought his Pa¬ 
shas to guard his youthful heir, he acknowledged 
the important truth—known already to all ex¬ 
cept himself—that his innovations had under¬ 
mined the “ divine right ” of his family; a right 
which had been so considered only because it 
had always harmonized with cherished usages, 
founded on, and consistent with them. The idea 
of a dying Sultan recommending his heir to 
the fidelity of the Divan would, previously, 
have been as preposterous as the notion of a 
king of England recommending his successor to 
the good will of Parliament. But Mahmoud 
felt, when too late, that in invading the tra¬ 
ditional laws of his nation, revered like the 
household gods of old, he had given the dis¬ 
affected arms such as they had never before 
wielded. Neither Paswan Oglou, nor Ali Pasha 
(of Yanina) was enabled to appeal to national 
fanaticism to oppose the Porte : Mahmoud knew 
that Mehemet Ali had done so successfully, 
and might profit still more by the feeling. The 
film of death, while shading the eyes, enables 


242 


SULTAN MAHMOUD. 


the mental vision to see clearer than it had 
ever done before; and as the passions, emblems 
of mortality, sink down on the brink of eter¬ 
nity, reason, the index of the soul, gazes dis¬ 
tinctly on the past and reads the future; it sees 
causes divested of the colouring of prejudice 
and flattery, and anticipates the unerring effects 
which must follow. Sultan Mahmoud, at the 
dread moment when the book of life stands open, 
and the startled conscience scans its contents at 
a glance, must have seen that he had played the 
game of the desperate gamester; each loss urg¬ 
ing him on to try another and a greater stake. 
Untaught by experience, he had made each 
disaster a stepping-stone to another. Weak¬ 
ened by the Grecian war of independence, he 
destroyed the Janissaries, the supporters of the 
throne, though oftentimes the enemies of its 
possessor: rendered helpless by that blow, he 
rushed into a war with Russia: paralysed by 
the result of that contest, he entered into a civil 
war with the Pasha of Egypt: and in the midst 
of the general conflagration he amused himself, 
like Nero who fiddled while Rome was burning, 
by building palaces at Constantinople, and illu¬ 
minating the banks of the Bosphorus. 


243 


TI1E JANISSARIES. 


CHAPTER X. 


THE JANISSARIES-MEIIEMET ALI-EGYPTIAN AND TURKISH 

POWER — RUSSIA-CONSTANTINOPLE. 


The principal event of Sultan Mahmoud’s life 
was the destruction of the Janissaries. He no 
doubt conscientiously believed that he had 
thereby removed the only obstacle to the re¬ 
generation of the empire. Various attempts, 
each ending in revolution, had previously been 
made, in the course of two centuries, to over¬ 
throw that powerful body. It might appear 
presumptuous to offer a decided opinion of the 
effect which such an exhibition of sovereign 
power might have produced a century earlier. 
I am inclined to think that the measure would 
even then have proved doubtful in its results, 
on account of the immediate connexion of the 
Janissaries with the powerful Ulema and the 
venerated religious order of the Bektashes but 

* Hadgi Bektash (a santon of great fame) sanctified the 
infant corps of Janissaries at Adrianople, 1389, at Sultan 

R 2 


244 


the janissaries. 


in the present era it could only be destructive to 
Turkey, as succeeding events have plainly shewn. 
Whatever evil may have existed in the constitu¬ 
tion of the Janissaries, and there was no doubt a 
great deal, the body was so intimately inter¬ 
woven with the habits, pursuits, traditions, and 
religion of the people, that any change in its 
organization was calculated to be felt in the 
remotest relations of society ,—a fortiori, a blow 
aimed at its existence. Turkey was an old, a 
heterogeneously formed, and, it might be said, 
a decrepit body politic : the very ills which it 
nourished in its bosom Imd become necessm y to 
it. The cancer had wound its filaments round 
its limbs, and penetrated its vitals. Jannissar- 
ism was the expression of national will in every 

Amurath’s request. Holding his sleeve over the foremost 
file, he said, “ Let them be called Yenicheri (new soldiers)> 
may their countenances be ever bright, their hands victorious; 
may their spears hang over the heads of their enemies ; and 
wheresoever they go, may they return with a white face/’ 
In consequence, the pendant of the Janissary s cap was made 
in the form of a dervish’s sleeve. The names of the Janis¬ 
saries and the Bektashes were thenceforwards nearly syno¬ 
nymous: their interests were indissolubly linked together. 
The order was very rich, spread over the empire, and re¬ 
spected by the rich and poor. The blow struck at the 
Janissaries rebounded on the Bektashes. Sultan Mahmoud 
instantly proclaimed the dissolution of their order. 


THE JANISSARIES. 


245 


part of the empire excepting in Egypt and 
Koordistan, and even there its influence was 
acknowledged : its enrolled members were the 
representatives of the people. Every act of the 
Janissaries as a body was the act of the Turkish 
people, prompted by it, and sanctioned by its 
fiat: what they wished or feared, was wished 
or feared by the people. Their rule of action 
was based on the Koran : their principles were 
stationary conservatism and equity. They will¬ 
ingly aided the Porte, at times, to subdue a 
rebellious province ; they would hang up or 
impale the ringleaders; but would not allow a 
single national or provincial right to be dis¬ 
turbed. They were equally ready to dethrone 
an obnoxious Sultan ; but the succession was 
sacred in their eyes,—the right of the family of 
Otliman to reign was inviolable. They refused 
in the former case to punish the many, for the 
misdeeds of a few; they would not in the latter 
case visit on the son the sins of the father. 
They considered themselves, and acted, as the 
guardians of the rights of every class in the 
empire; and hence, while shielding the people 
from the exercise of despotic power, they secured 
the throne from the effects of rebellion. Spread 
over the empire, and mingling in all the pur¬ 
suits and callings of the people, they joined to 


246 


THE JANISSARIES. 


their local influence, necessarily acquired by this 
dissemination, the power of centralization, in 
virtue of the manifold ties which bound them 
to Constantinople, and the obedience due to 
their supreme chief, the Janissary-Aga. They 
were a part of the people in every respect— 
at the same time formed a separate body in the 
state. By their means the Porte exercised a 
direct influence in every pashalik, and retained 
it even when a pasha was in open revolt, or had 
succeeded in obtaining an acquiescence in his 
quasi independence. The Aga of the Janissaries 
in each province bore the same relation to the 
Porte, through the supreme Janissary-Aga, as 
the chief of the secret police in each govern¬ 
ment of Russia bears to the emperor. He cor¬ 
responded directly with the Porte. The Porte, 
through his means, might obtain notice of trea¬ 
sonable designs on the part of a pasha, or in the 
event of the latter having raised the standard 
of rebellion, might concert intrigues against 
him, and be ready to profit by circumstances. 
The rebel might gain the Janissary-Aga of the 
pashalik over to his interests, but dared not in¬ 
fringe his rights, because his own authority was 
more or less dependent on the goodwill of the 
provincial Janissaries: any attempt to decrease 
their power would have roused the Janissary 


THC JANISSARIES. 


247 


esprit de corps throughout the empire, and have 
given the Porte irresistible power—the power of 
opinion. This accounts for the non-result of 
ambition in powerful rebel pashas, and explains 
the facility with which usurped authority was 
oftentimes noiselessly subverted. A pasha fre¬ 
quently obtained regal sway in substance, and 
retained it despite the efforts of the Porte, 
neither paying tribute nor heeding its firmans; 
but the mere indication of a desire to invade the 
constitution of the empire—which prescribed, 
among other regulations, an Othman for the 
sovereign — in other words, to make himself 
independent, or to alter existing laws, would 
have stripped him of his power : the Janissaries 
would have abandoned him. The pasha had 
always a spy in his presence in the person of 
his Janissary-Aga, an accredited minister of the 
Porte, it might be said, at his vice-regal court. 
Further, the long habit of exacting obedience, 
the power of combination, and the moral weight 
of the name of the Janissaries, kept together 
the discordant materials which composed the 
Turkish empire, and effected the seeming mira¬ 
cle of a monarch without a regular army—ruled 
himself by women and eunuchs, — retaining 
twenty different nations, of as many tongues 
and of nearly as many religions, under his rule. 



248 THE JANISSARIES. 

The instant we understand the nature of the 
Janissaries the mystery is explained. The Ja¬ 
nissary corps were the links which connected 
Islamism all over the empire ; they were fast¬ 
nesses of the Porte’s authority in the Christian 
provinces. Had a pasha, aspiring after inde¬ 
pendence, named a wish, he would have said, 
“ remove the Janissaries had a Christian pro¬ 
vince, sighing for emancipation, expressed a 
desire it would have said, “ remove the Janissa¬ 
ries.” Unfortunately, Sultan Mahmoud saw only 
the licentious pretorian bands of his capital: he 
cut them down, and the example was joyfully 
followed by the pashas in the provinces. With 
them disappeared the cohesive bond of the 
empire, and the throne no longer found support 
in the moral opinion of which they had been 
the representatives. Mahmoud became from 
that hour a mere king, like many others, 
trusting for support to mercenary troops. The 
“divine right,” which had borne his family 
through centuries of misrule, corruption, and 
tyranny—through long periods of domestic mis¬ 
fortune and national degradation—ceased to be 
acknowledged by the Turkish nation from the 
moment he turned his sword against the body, 
which, impersonifying its dogmas and preju¬ 
dices, had been, during 400 years, the guar- 


THE JANISSARIES. 


249 


dian of its rights and the organ of its remon¬ 
strances. 

Inattention to, or ignorance of, the subject 
caused Europe to err widely in her opinion about 
the policy of the destruction of the Janissaries. 
She thought that Mahmoud had done a wise 
thing; but history, if I mistake not, will pro¬ 
nounce it an act of folly. Charles XII. was 
called a great man when he marched on Mos¬ 
cow; the battle of Pultawa made him be deemed 
a madman. Results alone prove the merit of 
an action in politics or war. And yet we may 
feel surprised that the politicians of Western 
Europe should have viewed so cursorily the tre¬ 
mendous act of Sultan Mahmoud in June 1826: 
they ought hardly to have supposed that the 
destruction of a powerful body whose influence 
in the state was of four centuries growth, would 
involve no consequences beyond the grief of 
relatives, and the indignation of a few partizans. 
Europe acted as if her persuasion had been, that 
the blood of the Janissaries would have dried up 
where it fell, in the streets of Constantinople. 
The very act, which in itself was calculated to 
shake the fabric of society to its centre, and to 
paralyse the energies of the state, was the signal, 
apparently, for Turkey’s allies to leave her to her 
fate, instead of redoubling their efforts to aid her: 


250 


THE JANISSARIES. 


the following year they destroyed her fleet, and 
the year after let her plunge into a war with her 
hereditary foe, without offering her a word of 
counsel, or affording her the slightest coun¬ 
tenance.* 

The fact is, Europe laboured under a complete 
delusion. She fancied that Sultan Mahmoud 
had done the Turks a great favour in destroying 
the Janissaries: he had in fact committed an 
act of high treason to the nation. This is not 
a mere idle assertion not admitting of proof: 
everybody who has examined the subject admits 
now the connexion between the Janissaries and 
the nationality of Turkey. Even the most care¬ 
less observer, the hasty traveller in the East, and 
the journalist in Europe who occasionally glances 
at the events which have chequered it during the 

* Nearly simultaneously with Russia’s declaration of war 
against Turkey in 1828, the French and English ambassa¬ 
dors at the Ottoman Porte left Turkey, together with all 
the consuls and agents of France and England. This state 
of things continued till June 1829, a few weeks before the 
peace of Adrianople. If France and England had had 
representatives at the Porte during the war, an honourable 
peace might have been arranged for Turkey before the pas¬ 
sage of the Balkans. The Emperor Nicolas was tired of 
the war, and only wanted a pretext for making peace. 
When ambassadors finally arrived at Constantinople the 
mischief was done; the success of General Diebitch was 


sure. 


THE JANISSARIES. 


251 


last fourteen years, cannot help remarking the 
lately accelerated decline of the empire, and 
endeavouring to find the cause. They invariably 
stop at the destruction of the Janissaries. They 
are obliged to admit that there, in Talleyrand’s 
words, lay “ le commencement de la Jin although, 
unwilling to contradict their opinions, they may 
still say that the Sultan was in the right, and 
that events only are to blame. 

Europe is, I believe, now aware of the fact 
that the destruction of the Janissaries was not 
the stepping-stone to Turkish regeneration, but 
rather acted as an earthquake’s shock to a totter¬ 
ing edifice ; but she is still insensible to another 
and more important result, produced by it, viz. 
the separation of the throne from the nation. 
The nation was Mussulman. The Janissaries 
were its representatives; and when they were 
overthrown the house of Othman ceased to reign 
morally. Its right was based on Mussulman 
institutions, and it fell with them. The path 
was then open to successful rebellion ; the im¬ 
perial throne was again a prize to which ambi¬ 
tion might aspire. Mehemet Ali saw the crisis 
in its real light: his power, silently formed in 
Egypt where the Janissaries had never existed, 
extended itself over Syria, without efiort, in 
1832. Fanaticism was with him ; the national 


252 


SULTAN MAHMOUD, AND 


feeling was in his favour, for he had nevei bowed 
to a Christian power, and his successes shed 
lustre on the Mussulman name. Nothing was 
said about the “ divine right of the Othman 
family-—that was a dead letter—and had he not 
been restrained by Europe, unprepared for the 
change in Turkish sentiments, he might have 
girded on the sabre of Othman amidst the accla¬ 
mations of the Turks. The circumstance of the 
Sultan calling in the aid of Christians in 1833, 
to support his throne against Mussulmans, com¬ 
pleted in the mind of his subjects the alienation 
which his adoption of Anti-Mussulman usages 
had commenced. The Mussulmans they com¬ 
pose the nation—seeing the Christian tendencies 
of the Sultan, began from that moment to think 
of another leader. 

This is a fact too important to be overlooked 
in the examination of the Eastern question : at¬ 
tention to it may solve the problem. At the 
present moment Western Europe is anxiously 
intent on preserving the integrity of the Ottoman 
empire, as the only barrier to Russian ambition. 
But, judging by her proceedings, she is acting 
without cognizance of facts. She evidently 
shrinks from the contemplation of what the Otto¬ 
man empire is. She reasons from the past: and 
because the house of Othman long commanded 


MEHEMET ALI. 


253 


the devotion and the sympathy of all the Mus¬ 
sulmans under its sceptre, supposes it must do so 
still. While she supports the throne of Constan¬ 
tinople, she believes that she is consolidating the 
empire; as long as an Othman reigns, she 
fancies that Russia is completely opposed in her 
designs. A glance, however, at the state of facts, 
will shew the hollow ground on which she is 
treading. Turkey now consists of two great 
political divisions: the division ruled by the 
Sultan, and the division under the Egyptian 
sway. The Sultan has for his share the pro¬ 
vinces, a considerable part of the population of 
which is Christian, and the Christians are on 
principle indisposed to his government: he is in 
the hands of the Christian powers : and he is 
utterly defenceless, as far as his own resources 
are concerned, against Russia. Mehemet Ali 
rules directly the bulk of the Mussulman popu¬ 
lation of the empire, he holds the keys of the faith, 
as it were, in the possession of the holy cities, 
and has the sympathy, more or less, of the Mus¬ 
sulmans in the provinces of Asia Minor and of 
Roumelia : he is in no ways connected with 
the Christian powers: he has an army and a 
fleet, and is able to defend himself against an}^ 
body. Mehemet Ali is capable of resuscitating 
the Ottoman empire, in Asia certainly, and he 


254 


SULTAN MAHMOUD, AND 


has sufficient cunning to cope with the cabinet 
of St. Petersburg. Each year adds to the anarchy 
of the provinces under the Porte; each day 
shews the dependence of the Sultan on foreign 
assistance. 

The superior power of Mehemet Ali, compared 
with the Sultan’s, is a truism which it would be 
idle to dwell on ; every person in Europe who 
reads a newspaper confesses this ; and every one 
who reflects on the subject may readily arrive at 
the reason of it. Let the European powers hold 
aloof, and leave the rivals—the Sultan and Me¬ 
hemet Ali—to decide the quarrel, and there is 
not the shadow of a doubt but that the latter 
would in three months' time be the master of the 
empire, if he chose it, and the Sultan be added 
to the already long list of lack-land sovereigns. 
The prestige attendant on his successful career, 
the religious bond between him and the Mussul¬ 
man people, and the moral weight of his talents, 
added to his real power, would enable him to 
consolidate the Mussulman interests, which 
would compel the allegiance of the Christian 
population. Or if Mehemet Ali preferred making 
an adjustment with the Porte, contenting him¬ 
self with the sovereignty of Syria and Egypt, the 
mere force of circumstances over which he would 
have no control—the tendencies of the scattered 


MEHEMET ALT. 


255 


Mussulman population in Asia Minor and Rou- 
melia to unite with an independent Mussulman 
empire—would soon extend his sway towards 
the Bosphorus, and the Sultan be reduced to 
the condition of the latter Greek emperors—in 
possession of Constantinople and the adjoining 
districts only, existing by sufferance. 

Were the question, disentangled of political 
considerations, to be simply which is the mode of 
making a barrier against Russia?—the answer 
would be with the Mussulmans of Turkey, for 
they are of necessity her foes by every sentiment. 
Who rules them, encourages them, and appeals 
to their sense of national independence ?—who 
has made them respect themselves, and brought 
back victory to their standard ?—Mehemet Ali. 

The Sultan has the semblance of power : Me¬ 
hemet Ali has the substance. The former rules 
over a people—the Greeks and Armenians—who 
are friendly to Russia : the latter leads the Mus¬ 
sulmans, who have an hereditary dislike to her. 
But Europe, while professing to have at heart 
the national independence of Turkey, upholds 
the Sultan, who cannot resist Russia : she dis¬ 
cards Mehemet Ali, who has the power, and 
holds the real elements of dominion in a coin¬ 
cidence of Mussulman views with his own. She 
prefers the rights of a sovereign to the interests 


256 


TURKEY. 


of a nation ; she deems it wiser to oppose Russia 
with the decayed prestige of the Ottoman name, 
rather than with the reviving sense of nationality 
of the Soonnite Mussulmans. 

State policy is here unhappily opposed to 
reason. The rule is inversed. We see for the 
first time since the general peace the powers of 
Europe siding against the people. The Greeks 
rebel: Europe supports and frees them from the 
rule of the Porte. The French rise against the 
elder branch of the Bourbons : Europe admits 
their right to choose a sovereign. The Belgians 
rise against Holland : Europe supports their 
cause, and gives them a king. The Mussulmans 
of Turkey obey the call of Mehemet Ali, and 
enrol themselves under him against the house of 
Othman, which has betrayed them by misrule and 
false policy : Europe resists them. And by a sin¬ 
gular fatality, this last is the only case in which 
England would gain by admitting a subversion 
of the rights of the throne. England gained 
nothing by placing a German prince over the 
Greeks : she certainly reaped no advantage by 
severing Antwerp from Holland ; but she would 
profit by a Mussulman regeneration, by whom¬ 
soever effected.. Every addition of strength to 
Mussulman Turkey is an addition of strength to 
England. 


TURKEY". 


257 


It cannot be too often repeated, the Mussul¬ 
mans of Turkey are the real barrier to Russia— 
are the only valid defence for the empire : they 
obey Mehemet Ali more or less. If his power is 
broken up, they will resolve themselves into the 
elements of discord and faction, out of which, in 
Syria and Egypt, he has raised them. The house 
of Othman would never be able to reconsolidate 
them : it has neither the means nor the capacity. 
It has wrecked itself in Islamite public opinion 
by its alliance with Russia, and by attempting 
to remove the distinctions of caste between Mus¬ 
sulmans and rayas. * 

The reason assigned why Europe declines 
acting in a Mussulman anti-Russian view is, that 
if Egyptian independence were acknowledged, 
or any indication given by the great Powers of 
a lukewarmness about Ottoman rights, the Sultan 
would invite Russian aid, and then Russia attain, 

* The famous Hatti scheriff of Gul-haneh, lately issued by 
Sultan Abdul Medjid, which, among other equitable regu¬ 
lations, places the Mussulmans and Christians of Turkey on 
a footing, will give Mehemet Ali still greater influence with 
the former. The English reader may understand the position 
of Mussulman and Raya in the Turkish empire, and the re¬ 
action on the government of any public demonstration in 
behalf of the latter, by comparing the case with the analogous 
one of Protestant and Catholic in Ireland, Favour to one 
party is a crime in the eyes of the other. 

9 


258 


RUSSIA. 


if not the possession, the absolute control of 
Constantinople. That is by no means certain, 
even admitting that Russia should endeavour to 
take advantage of such a crisis, and establish 

herself at Constantinople—which, however, she 

is not yet ready to do. There are Mussulmans 
scattered all over European Turkey, armed and 
fanatic: half of the population of Constantinople 
is Mussulman; and Mehemet Ali could march 
60,000 Mussulman soldiers on the capital. The 
war would be “ holy.* I doubt if Russia could 
defeat that combination of moral and physical 
resources, aided, as it necessarily would be, by 
the voice of Europe ; for there is not a doubt that 
if a struggle were to ensue for the possession 
of Constantinople, between the Mussulmans of 
Turkey and the Russians, England and Austria 
would side with the former for their own sakes 
whatever their predilections might be. As long 
as there is a Mussulman power, like Mehemet 
Ali’s, Russia would have to contend with it for 
the possession of Constantinople, and any leader 
of talent would be aided by all the Mussulmans. 

It is confidently stated, that Austria would join 
with Russia should the Egyptian forces threaten 
Constantinople, or their ruler declare his inde¬ 
pendence. She may talk of doing so, but I 
imagine she would do nothing of the sort. It 


AUSTRIA. 


259 


is true, that Austria has committed so many 
blunders of late, in connexion with Russia and 
Turkey, that one would have no right to feel 
surprised at anything she might do : she might 
prefer seeing the Egyptian power destroyed, 
to hailing with joy the re-establishment of a 
firm Mussulman rule at Constantinople. Count 

F-, an Austrian ambassador, said, not long 

ago, to an Englishman, that Austria would rather 
see the Russians at Constantinople, than a re¬ 
vived Arabian power there. The Count spoke 
with the fears of 150 years ago, when the Otto¬ 
mans carried war into Hungary and Galicia. 
Few persons can labour under the same delusion. 
I fancy that Austria would, in this instance, play 
Russia a slippery trick. She would march an 
army over the Danube, ostensibly to cover the 
Ottoman throne or enforce its rights; but would 
probably content herself with occupying the 
frontier provinces, unless true policy should 
make her seize the auspicious moment for 
rescinding the article of the peace of Adrianople 
which relates to the mouth of the Danube. She 
would, in all probability, perceive her real 
interest in time. It is too absurd to suppose 
that Austria would, in the present day, fight 
with Russia against any portion of the Mussul¬ 
mans of Turkey under any chief . She continued 

s 2 



260 


RUSSIA. 


to play that losing game too long. The peace 
of Jassy, so disastrous for Turkey and so advan¬ 
tageous for Russia, was mainly attributable to 
the victory of Rimnik (in Moldavia), gained by 
an Austro-Russian army over the Grand Vizir. 

Admitting however, that Russia, induced by 
circumstances, such as a march of the Egyptian 
army on the Bosphorus, were to send her fleet 
and army of the Euxine to Constantinople, she 
would feel obliged to retire from it before long, 
whatever her wishes might be. She could not, 
against the will and interests of Europe and the 
active opposition of the Turks, stimulated and 
supported by the Egyptian power, hold a city 
of 600,000 souls, accustomed to the utmost lati¬ 
tude of speech and action, and enjoying many 
of the advantages of civilization without any of 
its shackles, at a distance from her frontiers ; a 
city in communication with all the world. Places 
like Valette or Corfu may be held at a distance: 
not so a city like Constantinople. Constantinople 
cannot remain an appendage to empire : any pro¬ 
longed attempt to hold it as such would end in 
its becoming a free city, or again the capital of a 
state. Russia knows this truth, and dreads lest 
circumstances should compel her to occupy Con¬ 
stantinople before she is ready. This would 
accelerate her own division. The inhabitants 


RUSSIA. 


261 


of New Russia, of all persuasions, Greeks, Bul¬ 
garians, Germans, and runaway Russians, would 
soon begin to emigrate to the rich plains of 
Roumelia and Bythynia, and thus Constantinople 
would be farther removed from Russia than now. 
The population of southern Russia and of Chris¬ 
tian Turkey is too thin for the commercial and 
agricultural prosperity of both together, while the 
demand from western Europe is no greater than 
Turkey could supply were she properly governed. 
The annexation of Constantinople to Russia in 
the present day, were it possible, would tend to 
the depopulation of New Russia, and conse¬ 
quently the separation of ideas and interests 
which already exists between Russia Proper and 
her possessions on the Euxine would rapidly 
widen. 

Russia can fix her iron rule by degrees on 
thinly-peopled provinces, but cannot lay it all 
at once on a great city teeming with intelli¬ 
gence and acquainted with freedom. She wishes 
to grow to Constantinople before occupying it. 
“The pear is not ripe,” or, rather, she is not 
ready to pluck it. Moreover, I may observe 
that the immediate possession of Constantinople 
would bring no political or military advantage 
commensurate with the difficulty ol ruling it 
in the actual state of things. Constantinople 


262 


RUSSIA. 


isolated would be of no more service to her than 
at present. She has the advantages of it, as a 
military position, which she would have were she 
mistress of it, in the exclusion of foreign ships 
of war from the Propontis by the Sultan, her 
ally, and in the power to descend at will into 
the Mediterranean from the Euxine. Russia s 
prayer is for time, and Europe kindly offers 
it to her; time to be ready for the splendid inhe¬ 
ritance ; time for the status quo to work its unerr¬ 
ing effects in increased anarchy and diminished 
Mussulman resources and population ; time for 
Mehemet Ali’s organization to disappear, on 
which Europe might now raise an effectual bar¬ 
rier against her. Russia dreads precipitation: 
every thing at Constantinople is tending to the 
accomplishment of her views; she wishes to 
retard, rather than to accelerate, the march of 
events. Europe courteously acquiesces. Russia’s 
only desire is to be the nurse to Turkey’s death¬ 
bed ; to watch events, with the power to guide 
them at the fitting hour; in the meanwhile extend 
her influence and commerce, and embarrass 
England’s as much as possible. Hence her 
visible alarm at Mehemet Ali’s position, and 
at the signs of resuscitation which Mussulman 
Turkey is giving under his guidance. She 
looked on the prostration of Turkey as completed 


RUSSIA. 


263 


by the peace of Adrianople and the treaty of 
Hunkiar - Skellisi, beyond the skill of her 
European friends to remedy : she did not anti¬ 
cipate the rise of a power in the South, to reap 
the fruits of her labour. 

Therefore Russia endeavours to persuade Eu¬ 
rope to join with her in destroying the growing 
Mussulman anti-Russian power of Mehemet Ali, 
and to unite in supporting the decaying, faction- 
torn government of the Ottoman Porte, which 
cannot by itself, she imagines, escape from her 
toils. Her cool effrontery, in expecting Europe 
to do this, is unparalleled in the history of 
politics: and if any power in Europe should 
favour her in this respect, the act will be without 
a parallel in the annals of condescension. 

The continuation of the status quo is favourable 
to Russia, by the drain it makes on the Mussulman 
population for soldiers; by the hindrance arising 
from it to the development of the resources of 
the country, and by the unsettled state in which 
it leaves men’s minds. The status quo is a slow 
fever, which is undermining Turkey, and pre¬ 
paring the inhabitants to submit to any supre¬ 
macy, rather than continue in such an unnatural 
and forced condition. Thus, whether Europe 
oppose Mehemet Ali openly, or leave things as 
they are, Russia is the gainer. 


264 


CONSTANTINOPLE 


CHAPTER XI. 


FORTIFICATIONS OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 


Europe evidently dreads any step on the part of 
Mehemet Ali, which has a chance of bringing 
Russia into the field, or may afford her a pretence 
for giving the Sultan assistance at Constanti¬ 
nople, and therefore holds him back; and she 
is necessarily repugnant to the idea of departing 
from her often repeated assurances of preserving 
the “ integrity of the Ottoman empire:” still, 
she ought to consider that Constantinople, about 
the independence of which she is epecially soli¬ 
citous, and which indeed is the key of her policy 
respecting the East, lies at the feet of Russia, 
owing to the menacing attitude which the latter 
has assumed in the Euxine, and which is uncon- 
trolable by any European power, on account of 
distance. As long as Russia found it necessary 
to march an army through European Turkey, in 
order to influence Constantinople, and Turkey 
possessed some share of the command of the 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


265 


Black Sea, the danger was not imminent. But 
the case is now totally altered. In three weeks 
Russia can send 20,000 men to the Bosphorus, 
and reinforce them a month later with troops 
from within 300 miles of her coasts. For such 
a descent she is always ready with men-of-war, 
transports, and steamers, and an army in the 
Crimea. Her ready means of transport are as 
follows:— 

12 ships of the line, to carry - 8000 troops. 

6 large frigates - - 2400 

12 corvettes and brigs - - 1000 

100 merchantmen * 8000 

16 government transports for stores. 

12 steamers to aid the dull sailers. 

The passage being short, and the wind gene¬ 
rally fair, the ships would bear crowding. Allow 
five days for the passage; two days for the 
disembarkation : and ten days to return for 
reinforcements, if necessary, which, if ready in 
the sea-ports, might immediately follow. In 
addition to the troops on board, the crew of the 
ships of war are regimented and trained like 
infantry. 

* Russia had 250 merchantmen (English, Austrian, and 
Sardinian) in her pay, in the Euxine, during the war of 
1828-9. 


266 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


In the face of this undeniable state of things, 
it is perfectly idle to talk of the “ integrity of the 
Ottoman empire,” or to think that any guarantee 
can be accepted by Europe to tranquillize her 
about the independence of Constantinople. Trea¬ 
ties and promises are waste paper and empty 
words beside such power, ready to be wielded 
when the propitious moment arrives. 

If Europe is really in earnest about the inde¬ 
pendence of Constantinople, some decided steps 
ought to be taken to ensure it, before it is too 
late, and thereby remove the uncertainty and 
distrust in the capital, which are materially aid¬ 
ing Russia’s views. There are two modes of 
attaining this desirable object. The first is, by 
acquiescing in the establishment of a new Mus¬ 
sulman dynasty in Turkey, should one be called 
for by the people, desirous of having a ruler 
able to protect their interests and advance their 
honour. This would probably be the most 
effectual remedy for Turkey, but is not likely to 
be entertained, because Europe objects to wave 
Ottoman rights, unless circumstances should 
make it imperious for her to do so. The second 
is, by fortifying Constantinople. This idea, 
which contains a volume, is not new to indi¬ 
viduals ; although it has not received the atten¬ 
tion which it merits, from any of the powers 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


267 


interested in the independence of Turkey. It 
offers an easy escape out of the Eastern labyrinth, 
in which the diplomacy of Europe has involved 
itself; it is the medium between allowing Turkey 
to perish under the atrophy of the status quo , and 
permitting the regeneration of the empire by 
Mehemet Ali. 

It is curious that, while a great deal has been 
said about the unsettled condition of Albania, 
Syria, Kurdistan, and other parts of the empire, 
where the Porte’s authority has long been either 
discarded or slighted, no thought should ever 
have been given to the helpless state of the 
capital. And yet in this lies the point of the 
Eastern question. Turkey is comprised in Con¬ 
stantinople, as far as the interests of Europe are 
concerned. It little signifies in a European 
political sense what becomes of the rest of the 
empire, so as Constantinople remains inde¬ 
pendent of Russia. Turkey is no prize without 
Constantinople. The Ottomans had their capital 
first at Brussa, and then at Adrianople, but till 
they obtained Constantinople, their power was 
unformed; it was liable to be broken up: it was 
an usurpation on the rights of the Greek em¬ 
perors. What maintained these emperors so 
long when their territory was no more than a 
few miles in circuit ? The fortifications of Con- 


268 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


stantinople . Their value was proved during many 
centuries: they withstood twenty sieges from 
Saracens and others, although they were inade¬ 
quate to keep out more experienced foes—the 
Crusaders. They literally prolonged the exist¬ 
ence of the lower empire above a century; for the 
Ottomans, although in possession of the greater 
part of Roumelia and Asia Minor, feared the 
moral effect of a defeat under the walls of Con¬ 
stantinople, and therefore left the city nearly 
undisturbed. At the last siege, by Mahomet II. 
1453, the works were dilapidated ; but, never¬ 
theless, the Emperor Constantine made a gallant 
defence, and would have succeeded in repulsing 
the Sultan, with the slightest assistance from 
Venice or Genoa. The Sultan, when he made 
his final and victorious onset, determined, if it 
failed, to raise the siege, so many men had he 
lost in the six preceding assaults. From that time 
no attention was given to the subject: the walls 
and ditches were suffered to decay. The power 
of the Ottomans forbade any fear for the safety of 
their capital. Their armies marched to Vienna 
and Cairo; their fleets alone navigated the 
Euxine, and disputed the Archipelago with the 
Venetians. Even under all their reverses, during 
the eighteenth century and the early part of the 
nineteenth century, the Balkan remained their 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


269 


barrier by land, and no Russian squadron dared 
approach the Bosphorus. But when the Russian 
army penetrated into Roumelia in 1829, and the 
Russian fleet talked of anchoring in the “ Golden 
Horn/’ the nakedness of Constantinople was 
clearly seen. The fact in itself paralyzed the 
remaining energies of the Porte, and hurried it 
into a disastrous peace. Then, the absence of 
defensive works was ruinous to the empire. It 
is evident that had the capital been fortified in 
1829, no peace of Adrianople would have been 
made, for the obvious reason that the Russian 
army would not have ventured thus far. Die- 
bitch would have been mad to place himself 
between the fortified capital, the Grand Vizir’s 
army at Schumlah, and the Albanian auxiliaries 
advancing into Roumelia by Philippopolis : he 
owed his success to the threat to march on the 
capital, which would have been a brutum fulmen 
had it been capable of withstanding a siege. 
Again, had his capital been fortified in 1832, 
the Sultan would not have invited Russian as¬ 
sistance to check the Egyptian army, simply 
because there would have been no occasion for 
his so doing: Ibrahim Pasha could not have 
threatened the capital. The Sultan might have 
temporized and watched the turn of events, till 
an opportunity occurred to combat him success- 


270 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


fully with the arms of intrigue and corruption. 
He would have avoided the necessity of making 
a convention, under the auspices of Europe, 
which gave Mehemet Ali a right over Egypt 
and Syria beyond the Sultan’s nomination. 

Thus much being premised, viz. the use which 
has been formerly, and might lately have been, 
derived from defensive works * at Constanti¬ 
nople ; and the fact that the city is exposed to 
insult and aggression from the Russian forces in 
the Euxine, against which no assistance on the 
part of Europe can prevail, and that conse¬ 
quently the Sultan cannot avoid being more 
guided by Russia than by any other power, the 
question is, can that vast city be fortified in a 

* Various examples might be adduced to shew the ad¬ 
vantage of a capital being fortified. If, in 1805, Vienna 
had been fortified, the battle of Ulm might not have decided 
the war. If Berlin had been fortified in 1806, the army 
beaten at Jena might have rallied, and the Russians had 
time to arrive. If Madrid had been fortified in 1808, the 
French might not have dared to march on it, even after the 
victories of Espinosa, of Tudela, and of Burgos. If, in 1814, 
Paris had been capable of resisting for a few weeks, the 
Allies might have feared to place themselves between the 
capital and the veteran army at Fontainbleau, 50,000 strong. 
Napoleon often shewed that the possession of the capital 
decided the fate of a war. Everybody may feel this truth with 
respect to Constantinople. 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


271 


manner suitable to the exigences of modern war¬ 
fare, so that the result may justify the expense? 
Several engineers have answered in the affirm¬ 
ative. Generals Guilleminot and Haxo (not to 
mention others) expressed that opinion after due 
examination of the ground. General Aster, the 
superintendent of the Prussian fortifications on the 
Rhine, observed, on seeing the plan of the city, 
that he could render Constantinople impregnable; 
farther observing that the facilities of making- 
sorties, owing to the features of the ground, 
would oblige the besieging army to be twice and 
a half as numerous as the garrison. Military 
men say that 20,000 troops, aided by the Mussul¬ 
man inhabitants (in a Turkish beleaguered city 
every man takes arms) would suffice. Three 
principal sea defences, two of them on the sites 
of the old castles (Anadolu-hissar and Roumely- 
hissar) built by Mahomet II., and another one 
on a point nearer the Black Sea, would close the 
Bosphorus against the Russian fleet, which now 
commands Constantinople, and may descend 
into the Mediterranean at pleasure. That fleet 
would then be locked up. The actual defences 
of the strait, save the two inner batteries, are of 
little value, and might be dispensed with. It 
is of more consequence to Constantinople and to 
Western Europe, to render the Bosphorus im- 


272 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


passable, than to erect works landways. The 
Russian Euxine fleet can now run down the 
Bosphorus in any weather, at night, when the 
moon is up, and the effect of anchoring under 
the seraglio would be conclusive—as Sir John 
Duckworth might have discovered in 1807. 
Russia might attain her object—make or renew 
a treaty—and retire, almost before we could be¬ 
come aware of her proceedings; and the thing 
once done, nothing would remain for us but to 
acquiesce. But it is another affair to land troops 
outside the strait. The weather has to be con¬ 
sulted. A n.e. gale might delay the disembarka¬ 
tion, and the same cause prevent reinforcements 
from landing afterwards. The difference between 
entering the Bosphorus with a fleet and 5000 
troops on board (a certain operation) and land¬ 
ing 15,000 men outside the castles (an operation 
involving delay and unseen risks), is immensely 
in favour of the former. However, as in fair 
weather it is perfectly easy to land troops out¬ 
side the European castles of the Bosphorus, and 
as Constantinople requires to be secured from 
every quarter, land and sea works are indis¬ 
pensable. 

Competent engineers have drawn out plans, 
and estimated the expense of fortifications under 
three heads. First, to secure Constantinople 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 273 

from a coup de main , either by sea or by a 
disembarkation of 15,000 men outside the Bos¬ 
phorus : 2dly, To enable the city to resist the 
rapid movement on it of a regular hostile force 
which should have beaten the Ottoman troops 
in Roumelia, as General Diebitch did in 1829: 
3dly, To enable Constantinople to resist a long 
siege after the Ottoman fleet and army should 
have been destroyed, and the Porte left to 
its own resources, trusting solely in them, and 
to the tardy succour of allies, as happened in 
1453, when the last of the Constantines fought 
at the head of his troops, and died like a hero 
in the breach, preferring death to dishonour. 

ESTIMATE OF THE THREE PLANS. 

£. 

First .... 360,000 

Second .... 830,000 

Third .... 1,530,000 

The third plan is of great extent. It in¬ 
cludes the Bendts, or reservoirs, from which 
Constantinople is supplied with water (by aque¬ 
ducts) twelve miles distant. I imagine that it 
would be impossible to defend such a circuit, 
nor would it be necessary, in the opinion of 
many, to include the Bendts . It would be easy 
to clear out the ancient reservoirs in the city, or 
to make new ones, and this ought undoubtedly 


T 


274 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


to be part of any plan for the defence of Con¬ 
stantinople. The Bendts and aqueducts existed, 
and were used, in the time of the Lower Empire, 
but the city did not trust in them during a siege; 
it had a sufficient supply of water within the 
walls. Three of the ancient reservoirs are still 
to be seen on a colossal and magnificent scale, 
though half filled up with earth. The roof of 
one is supported by 220 marble columns. of 
another, by 330 marble columns. By admeasure¬ 
ment, it is ascertained that the cistern near the 
Hippodrome was capable of containing 1,460,000 
gallons of water, a supply for 20,000 people, 
during two months, at the rate of a gallon a day 
each. The apprehension of a siege would neces¬ 
sarily thin the population materially, and thereby 
increase relatively the supply of cistern water. 

The second plan of works seems ample to meet 
the exigences of the case : more might he super- 
added if deemed requisite. I rather think that 
Scutari is not included in the estimate, whereas 
that city ought also to be fortified on various 
accounts. Add 200,000/. for works on that side 
of the Bosphorus, and the whole cost ofiguaran- 
teeing Constantinople from Russian protection, 
and tranquillizing Europe on her account, would 
amount to 1,100,000/.; the merest trifle, if the 
magnitude of the result be considered. 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


275 


There is no real want of money for this grand 
object. Since I have known Constantinople, the 
Sultan has expended, or caused his Pashas to 
expend, as much money on palaces and fetes as 
would have fortified the city. If the will exists 
on the part of the Divan to render Constant! 
nople independent of Russia, money will 
forthcoming. Should there really not be the 
means, it would be a wise economy on the part 
of England, France, and Austria, to guarantee 
a loan for the specific purpose of fortifying Con¬ 
stantinople. 

We must not overrate the value of the measure, 
or imagine that the inviolability of Constanti¬ 
nople, secured by adequate works, would rege¬ 
nerate the Ottoman empire. That can hardly 
be expected. No empire was ever yet rege¬ 
nerated by an individual, born and bred in a 
palace, who feels not the evils complained of, 
and never hears truth — whose counsellors are 
flatterers, and whose friends are parasites. That 
could with difficulty be accomplished even in the 
West, where princes are educated in their boy¬ 
hood, and may hear truth in their manhood 
through the medium of the press. In the East it 
would be a dream to think of regeneration coming 
from the throne; it must come from the people : 
and as Europe will not hear of that, all she can 

t 2 


276 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


hope for is, by fortifying Constantinople, to repeat 
the last chapter of the Lower Empire. In this 
way the Porte may drag on its existence another 
century : its sphere of rule may be gradually 
lessened, but as long as it holds Constantinople 
the principal object of Europe is attained. And 
who will venture to predict the events of the 
next century? Russia, now so threatening by 
her unity of religion, and her organized bar¬ 
barism, may be a prey to revolution. At the 
same time, although I do not think that any 
combination of circumstances could re-establish 
the Ottoman dynasty on a respectable footing, 
because the bond of unity between the throne 
and the Mussulman people has been snapped by 
an anti-Islamite reform, still it cannot be denied 
that the Sultan might, were he rendered safe in 
his capital, effect improvements in the provinces 
immediately dependent on him, and which are, 
in a great measure, peopled by Christians. He 
may disregard Russian counsel and listen to 
England: he may strike a blow at the pro¬ 
sperity of southern Russia, by inviting coloni¬ 
zation and by encouraging agriculture ; when, 
in a few years, hundreds of the vessels which 
annually frequent the ports of the Euxine for 
grain, would take in their cargoes at Salo- 
nica, Enos, the Dardanelles, Smyrna, and other 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


277 


places.* As long as Constantinople is exposed 
to insult and invasion from a force in the Euxine 
always ready to act, the Sultan must be mute on 
subjects disagreeable to Russia ; the wisest plans 
of amelioration may be traversed by underhand 
threats emanating from the Russian embassy. 
He must refrain from awakening her jealousy. 
He may not even at times dare to exercise justice 
on a Russian subject, for fear of seeing Russian 
ships of war enter the Bosphorus and demand 
redress. 

The idea of fortifying Constantinople would 
be highly popular in Turkey. The Constan- 
tinopolitans were arrogant and openly anti- 
Russian, while they deemed their city inviolable : 
the contrary conviction has cowed them. There 
are Pashas in office to my knowledge who are 
alive to the importance of the step, with suffi¬ 
cient patriotism to urge it on their master’s 
consideration, as well as to resist the bribes 
which Russia would offer to the members of the 
Divan to oppose a measure so detrimental to 
her views. 

Russia would of course exert her influence, 

* Merino wool is becoming an important article of expor¬ 
tation from New Russia, but slieep might be grazed, far 
cheaper and healthier, in Asia Minor, under the influence 
of a climate similar to that of Spain. 


278 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


directly and indirectly, to induce the Divan to 
forego the idea of fortifying Constantinople. 
She could do no more in the present day. She 
could not openly dispute the right of the Sultan 
to fortify his capital in the actual disposition of 
Europe. In a few years she may be able to do 
so effectually. And here I may remark, that 
the attitude of Mehemet Ali is a sure argument 
to make the Sultan concur in the project of 
securing his capital against Russia . If he should 
refuse to adopt the prudent and politic measure, 
Europe might say, presuming him then to be 
thoroughly Russian, that she would no longer 
oppose the Egyptian ruler in any designs which 
he might have on the empire; and Russia would 
not venture to resist the Sultan openly, while 
there should be a force at hand—the Syrian- 
Egyptian army—to aid in accomplishing an 
object essential to the honour and repose of 
Turkey. We may be perfectly certain that any 
Mussulman chief in Turkey will always feel 
called on by policy and a religious feeling to 
aid in any measure for emancipating the capital 
from Russia, however little he may gain imme¬ 
diately by it; and no one is more capable of 
appreciating the soundness of that doctrine than 
Mehemet Ali, who looks on Constantinople as 
his chief barrier, and feels that were it under 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 279 

Russia, or likely to fall into her hands, his power, 
even though acknowledged by Europe, would 
rest on a precarious basis, compared with what 
it would otherwise do. Were the Egyptian 
power non-existent, Russia might prevent the 
Divan from entertaining the idea of fortifying 
Constantinople: there would then be no threat 
to hold out to make the Sultan consult his own 
honour and independence; and no force at hand 
to deter Russia from using undue means to keep 
Constantinople in its present defenceless state. 

There are two modes, I repeat, of frustrating 
Russia’s views on Turkey, and of disarming her 
naval power in the Euxine, which, it should not 
be forgotten, menaces England and France in 
the Mediterranean # as well as Constantinople: 
either by offering no hindrance to the rise of an 
Arabian dynasty, which may, perchance, be 
called for by the natives to replace the house of 
Othman; or by fortifying Constantinople . Both 
combined would be perfect. If England will 
not make one or the other a sine qua non of her 
Turkish policy, she will literally effect nothing 
to any purpose: she will only prolong a pitiable 

* The reader knows that in 1798 a Russian fleet of fifteen 
sail of the line passed through the Bosphorus and the Darda¬ 
nelles to the Mediterranean, and took possession of the 
Ionian Islands. 


280 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


state of things, alike ruinous to Turkey an 
favourable to Russia. She betrays Turkey by 
either omission, and especially betrays the Porte 
by the latter, whatever else she may do. In 
opposing Mehemet Ali she flatters the Sultan’s 
pride, but in making him fortify his capital she 
will consult his real interests, and give him an 
independence of which he has not got the sha¬ 
dow now. In vain would be the annihilation 
of the Egyptian power, either by force, or by 
exhaustion resulting from the status quo , if Con¬ 
stantinople were to remain exposed to Russian 
aggression or protection. Constantinople would 
continue to be, as for the last ten years, a subject 
of ceaseless anxiety to western Europe, and a 
source of expense to England by the necessity of 
keeping up a Levant fleet. But it should be 
borne in mind, if Mehemet Ali’s power be ruined 
first, Constantinople will never be fortified by the 
Sultan afterwards. 


DIPLOMATISTS. 


281 


)f‘ 


« 

CHAPTER XII. 


DIPLOMATISTS AT CONSTANTINOPLE-COMMERCIAL TREATY 

BETWEEN ENGLAND AND TURKEY-CHARACTERS-VOYAGE 

TO ODESSA. 

The corps diplomatique at Constantinople, at 
the time of which I write, consisted of Lord Pon- 
sonby (ambassador of England), Baron Roussin 
(ambassador of France), M. de Boutenief (min¬ 
ister of Russia), Baron Sturmer (internuncio of 
Austria), Count Kbnigsmark (minister of Prus¬ 
sia), Count Parete (minister of Sardinia), M. de 
Troil (minister of Sweden), M. Argyropoulo 
(minister of Greece), M. Cordova (minister of 
Spain), M. Quaglia (minister of Florence), etc. 
Most of these gentlemen, and some of the secre¬ 
taries of legation, had their ladies with them; 
so that Pera boasted of very good society. We 
might occasionally meet them at the Baron de 
Stunner’s, whose house was the only “open 
one.” After the accomplished Baroness Sturmer, 
Madame Fourman (wife of the Russian secretary 


282 


COMMERCIAL TREATY. 


of legation) was remarkable among the ladies 
for her musical talent, which would have been 
appreciated at an Italian opera, and the amiable 
Madame Welbecker, highly and deservedly ex¬ 
tolled by Captain Basil Hall in his “ Residence 
in Styria.” 

The four first-named functionaries may be 
considered as the kings of Pera, for unto them 
belong the exclusive jurisdiction over nearly 
all its motley population, and for them alone 
does the Porte entertain any consideration. 
The remainder are very inferior personages, for 
whom the situations are good, excepting in the 
case of our worthy friends M. Cordova and suite, 
whose salaries were very precarious, owing to 
the civil war in Spain. Two of the kings. Lord 
Ponsonby and Baron Roussin, were not then on 
dining terms, on account of each of them wish¬ 
ing to take to himself the sole credit of the new 
commercial treaty just concluded with the Porte, 
and considering the pretensions of the other as 
an usurpation. Each of them obtained a let¬ 
ter of thanks for the said treaty from the mer¬ 
chants of their respective nations, and each in a 
reply of self-gratulation took credit for having 
brought the affair to a termination after long and 
laborious negotiation : the idea of making a fresh 
commercial treaty with the Porte dated as far 


COMMERCIAL TREATY. 


283 


back as the time of Sir Robert Gordon’s embassy 
at Constantinople; but sundry difficulties op¬ 
posed themselves to its development. Mr. Urqu- 
hart took it up warmly afterwards when he was 
English secretary of embassy at Constantinople. 
The Turks were averse from any change. The 
Sultan, however, at length yielded on being led 
to think that the proposed treaty would ruin 
Mehemet Ali, inasmuch as it proposed to abolish 
monopolies and extra duties, on which his reve¬ 
nue depended. It was idle to suppose that any 
treaty could be binding on so absolute a ruler as 
Mehemet Ali, literally the proprietor of Egypt, 
who would have many ways of evading the terms 
which might be objectionable to him.* However, 
Sultan Mahmoud caught at the bait. 

The ancient treaty of commerce (“capitula¬ 
tions”) between Turkey and the Frank nations 
provided simply for an ad valorem duty of three 
per cent, on exports and imports. About twenty 
years ago the Porte began systematically to 

* In 1837 the French government declared that Mehemet 
Ali should not levy more than the established three per cent, 
on French merchandize; and the French consul intimated his 
intention to enforce it in regard of a cargo of wine which 
arrived shortly after from Marseilles. Mehemet Ali con¬ 
sented, but at the same time forbid his subjects to buy the 
wine. He purchased the cargo himself, and resold the 
wine at his own price. 


284 


COMMERCIAL TREATY. 


invade the “capitulations,” by monopolies and 
transit dues, until latterly the actual duty levied 
on some articles of export amounted to as much 
as 40 per cent. Remonstrances on the part of 
the Frank governments proved unavailing; the 
Porte required a revenue, and knew no better 
way of obtaining one. It was then resolved to 
effect a compromise by means of a new treaty, 
enacting that monopolies and irregular dues 
should cease from March 1839 ; and to make 
amends for the consequent loss of revenue, the 
Porte should have the right of levying 11 per 
cent, on exports, and five per cent, on imports. 

Much has been expected from the operation 
of this treaty, but I do not think it would be 
wise to reckon surely on its being carried into 
execution. The system, in order to have a fair 
trial, requires honest administrators and incor¬ 
ruptible agents. Are such to be met with in 
Turkey? The Pashas, it is said, are to be paid 
regular salaries, and collectors are to gather the 
revenues of the pashaliks for the Porte. Who 
is to prevent collusion between the Pasha and 
the collector—both Turks—both uncertain of 
retaining office? The Pashas are no longer to 
be allowed to farm their revenues to the sarafs 
(bankers). Who will prevent them from giving 
Armenian capitalists certain advantages in trade 


COMMERCIAL TREATY. 


285 


in their respective pashaliks ? Who is there for 
the oppressed to complain to, since the promulga¬ 
tion of the new treaty, more than there was before? 
The ministers of the Porte have ever been the 
most forward in encouraging corruption, and 
had an excuse in the calls for “ benevolences” so 
frequently made upon them. Such proofs of 
loyalty will, in all probability, still be required 
from them, and no official salary will suffice. 
Many of the Frank merchants doubted whether 
the treaty could be carried into effect, and the 
Turks said that they would gain the new rate 
of duty in addition to the profits of the abuses. 
However, the alteration is of a nature to benefit 
the country; at all events the Frank ambas¬ 
sadors will have a full right to enforce attention 
to it, though I repeat we ought not to be sur¬ 
prised, and cry out treason, if the result be un¬ 
satisfactory. It is unreasonable to expect that 
a mere edict will change deep-rooted habits of 
corruption and malversation all at once, if it can 
do so at all: we know that acts of parliament in 
England are impotent against the practice of 
bribery at elections. 

A few words may not be uninteresting about 
the principal diplomatists who have resided at 
Constantinople the last seven or eight years, 
some of the most critical in the history of the 


286 


DIPLOMATISTS. 


Ottoman empire. Lord Ponsonby ranks first 
among them. His lordship is remarkable for 
having commenced an official career at an age 
when many men retire into private life. He 
had long passed the half-way of man’s existence, 
when Sir Thomas Maitland drew him from 
retirement at Naples, where he was residing on 
a slender allowance, after having run through a 
handsome fortune in London. Sir Thomas was 
then governor of Malta, and lord high commis¬ 
sioner of the Ionian Islands. He welcomed 
Lord Ponsonby to his palace, either at Valette 
or at Corfu; treated him with unexampled libe¬ 
rality for many months, and finally procured for 
him the place of secretary to the senate at Corfu ; 
thus giving a proof that party considerations had 
no weight with him, Sir Thomas being an ultra 
tory and his protege a whig in heart and spirit. 
In this post, his lordship was distinguished, 
I have heard, for his knowledge of Italian law 
—the law of the islands. After some time he 
returned to England. He then entered diplo¬ 
macy, and passed successively through the posts 
of British minister at Buenos Ayres, Rio de 
Janeiro, Brussels, and Naples. At the latter 
place, fortune again smiled upon him: his 
brother-in-law, Lord Grey, was in office, and 
appointed him to the high post of ambassador 


DIPLOMATISTS. 


287 


extraordinary to the Sublime Porte; a situation 
at once of great difficulty and responsibility, 
both as regarded Turkey and England. I cannot 
take upon myself to say, that his career has been 
entirely successful; it being at the same time 
fair to admit that it is questionable if the exer¬ 
cise of any talents, however distinguished, could 
have materially altered the course of events. 
Many persons think that, had his lordship been 
less opinionated, he might have arrived at juster 
conclusions; and thereby have saved his govern¬ 
ment much doubt of purpose and uncertainty of 
action. He seemed to have an objection, not 
unusual with persons in high stations, to change 
an opinion once firmly grounded; and a dis¬ 
inclination to hear counter arguments about 
subjects on which he had made up his mind. 
He came to the East with an idea that Turkey 
was rapidly regenerating, and that Russia was 
very weak; and, as to Mehemet Ali, he never 
would admit that his power was other than a 
mere bubble, which might be dispersed with 
a breath. His retired mode of life at Therapia, 
a village eleven miles from Constantinople, 
deprived him of facilities for ascertaining the 
changes operating among the Turkish and Ara¬ 
bian populations, and the relative strength of 
parties: it would not have been good breeding 


/ 


288 


DIPLOMATISTS. 


in his visitors, to differ fron their noble and 
accomplished host; and his political agents, in 
various parts of the Turkish empire, felt bound, 
like good subjects, to echo the opinions of their 
representative of majesty. Like the Roman histo¬ 
rian who said that he could not dispute with 
the master of thirty legions, they might have 
thought it prudent to conciliate a person whose 
family influence in England was sufficiently 
powerful to cause their removal, or obstruct their 
career; and his lordship, it is averred, has given 
two examples, during his embassy, of being 
able and willing to do both. Hence it is not 
surprising, if various stirring events, which had 
been foreseen by nearly everybody in Turkey, 
came like surprises on the British embassy at 
Therapia. Only a few months before the fatal 
battle of Nezib, fought in June 1839, between 
the Turks and Egyptians, he was reported to 
have said, that Turkey was on the eve of a 
glorious regeneration. The expression might 
certainly have been used in a double sense, 
either in relation to the Ottoman Porte, or to the 
Egyptian power; the word, <c regeneration,” 
being equally applicable whether proceeding 
from one cause or another; and therefore we 
may presume that his lordship alluded in his own 
mind to the probable success of Mehemet Ali, 


DIPLOMATISTS. 


289 


and the possible consolidation, in consequence, 
of Mussulman interests, while viewing his posi¬ 
tion as ambassador to the Porte, his words 
were received by the uninitiated as applying to 
nominal Turkey. 

In recompense for his services at Constanti¬ 
nople, Lord Ponsonby has received the Grand 
Cross of the Bath, and promotion in the peerage 
to the rank of Viscount. Sultan Mahmoud also 
gave him the Eftihar nishan, imperial Turkish 
order, richly set in diamonds. 

Baron Roussin, Lord Ponsonby’s colleague, is 
better known as a sailor than as a diplomatist, 
although there is no reason for supposing that 
he has been unsuccessful in the latter capacity. 
His first appearance in connexion with the Eng¬ 
lish was at the Mauritius, at that brilliant period 
of our naval history when the talents and cou¬ 
rage of Capt. (now Admiral Sir) Josias Rowley* 

* On account of the injury caused to our trade by French 
cruisers from the Mauritius, it was resolved, in 1810, to send 
a force from India to capture the island. Captain Josias 
Rowley, commanding the Boadicea, was ordered, with six 
frigates, to blockade the French naval force, and keep the 
passage open for the army. By an unexampled chain of 
disasters, he found himself alone at the end of a week. Four 
of his frigates got on rocks under a French battery, and were 
either taken or destroyed. The fifth, the Africaine , ran 
between two French frigates, and remained a prize. The 

U 


/ 


290 


DIPLOMATISTS. 


mainly contributed to add that island to our 
empire. He was then Lieutenant de Vaisseau, 
under the orders of Commodore (now Admiral) 
Duperre. He shared in the successes which pre¬ 
ceded the surrender of the island, and was the 
officer who boarded and took possession of the 
Nereide, Capt. Willoughby, which had grounded 
under a French battery, with three other frigates. 
He was exchanged at the capitulation of the 
Mauritius, and received promotion. In 1813, 
Capt. Roussin sailed from Brest, in command of 
the la Gloire frigate, and after a successful cruise 
against English trade in the West Indies, re¬ 
turned to France at the general peace. Since 
the peace, he has commanded the French station 
at the Brazils. Rear-Admiral Roussin was after¬ 
wards ordered to force the passage of the Tagus, 
and obtain satisfaction from Don Miguel for hav- 

* 

French squadron then kept the sea, looking out for the army 
from India, not caring about the solitary Boadicea. The 
Ceylon frigate, leading the transports, with the General-in- 
Chief, Abercromby, on board, fell into their hands. Seizing 
an auspicious moment, Capt. Rowley left St. Paul s harboui 
the next day: he captured the French Commodore (Hamelin) 
in the Venus , and retook the Ceylon; then returning to port, 
he fitted out his prizes, manned them with merchant sailors 
and soldiers; again went out, blockaded the remainder of 
the enemy’s frigates, and kept open the road for the trans¬ 
ports. 


DIPLOMATISTS. 


291 


ing maltreated a couple of French subjects. He 
performed this duty effectually, and shewed how 
useless the Castle of Belem was for the defence 
of the Tagus. He was then, as Vice-Admiral, 
nominated Ambassador Extraordinary to the 
Porte, and arrived at Constantinople at the 
critical juncture when Ibrahim Pasha was march¬ 
ing on the capital, after the victory of Koniah : 
he endeavoured to dissuade the Porte from the 
fatal step of accepting Russian assistance against 
the Egyptians, but having nothing but words to 
offer instead, he was unsuccessful. 

M. Boutenief (the Russian colleague of Lord 
Ponsonby and Baron Roussin) is less known to 
the European reader than the other two. Though 
equally, if not more important, he is less promi¬ 
nent. This is owing to the altered relations 
of Russia with Turkey. Before the peace of 
Adrianople, display, bombast, and intimidation 
marked the presence of the Russian minister at 
Constantinople, the object then being to excite 
the Turks to anger, — “to tread on the worm 
till it turned.” Since that event, Russia’s end 
having been gained by the prostration of Turkey, 
her policy is to smooth asperities down, and re¬ 
concile the Turks to their humiliated position. 
Russia wishes to flatter her victim. Concilia¬ 
tion, apparent deference, and friendly offers 

u 2 


292 


diplomatists. 


have taken the place of provocation and over¬ 
bearing. Her minister therefore lives compara¬ 
tively secluded, without making any exhibition 
of power or parade. At the same time the post 
is not a sinecure: his instructions are to make 
himself felt everywhere without appearing : he 
has to maintain Russia’s preponderance in the 
Divan, and her influence with the rayas ; but the 
agency is to be kept out ol sight. This delicate 
mission, it is said, has been well accomplished 
by M. Boutenief: he never hurts a Turk’s pride, 
or makes any display: his nearly vice-legal 
power is shewn in silent unobtrusive results. 
With the greatest power of any man at Constan¬ 
tinople, he appears to have the least. In allusion 
to his tact and personal demeanour, a Pasha of 
high rank observed to the author that it was an 
additional misfortune to Turkey having M. Bou¬ 
tenief for the Russian minister at Constanti¬ 
nople: “ We cannot help liking him personally,” 
he said. He wished to retire from Constanti¬ 
nople in 1838, the place not agreeing with his 
lady, but the Emperor insisted on his remaining 
there until the expiration of the treaty of Hun- 
kiar Skellesi, in June 1841. 

Baron Sturmer, the Austrian colleague of the 
above, has been introduced to the reader on 
the Danube. The maintenance of things as 



DIPLOMATISTS. 


293 


they are being Austria’s policy everywhere, her 
internonce * at the Porte has very little of a 
marked character to perform : his most onerous 
duty consists in keeping in order his numerous 

* The origin of the appointment of an internonce (inter- 
nuncium et legatum) is as follows. The ambassador of the 
German Emperor always occupied the first place at every 
court in Europe. By a treaty, however, the French king’s 
ambassador gained the right of precedence at the Sublime 
Porte; and when the Emperor of Germany at length sent a 
representative to Constantinople, the French would not yield 
their precedence there. On this the Emperor resolved to 
name an internuncio, about whose position there could be no 
dispute. The internonce ranked after all ambassadors, and 
before all ministers plenipotentiary. The Congress of 
Vienna, which decided that diplomatic envoys should every¬ 
where take precedence in their respective ranks, according 
to the date of the delivery of their credentials, omitted to 
make mention of an internonce. In consequence, the inter¬ 
nonce for Austria at the Porte now ranks with ministers 
plenipotentiary instead of before them. An attempt was 
made by the internonce in 1833 to gain his former position, 
next after the ambassadors; but Mr. Mandeville (the British 
minister) and the Prusian minister resisted, and referred the 
question to their courts, who decided against the internonce’s 
claim. Such being the case, Austria might now as well 
conform to general usage, and appoint either an ambassador 
or a minister at Constantinople; but she abhors change. 
Turkey has the same ideas, and still considers the inter¬ 
nonce as one of the buyuk eltchees (great ambassadors), as in 
fact he is. 


294 


DIPLOMATISTS. 


subjects who, consisting chiefly of Sclavonians, 
give a great deal of trouble in Turkey. In 
consequence of her do-nothing policy, Austria 
has but little influence in Turkey, though she 
has the means of exercising a vast and salutary 
one : in addition to various religious ties which 
connect her with the Catholic tribes in Turkey, 
and her commercial relations with the northern 
provinces, her embassy is the best appointed of 
any at Constantinople. All the members of it, 
including the dragomans, are Austrians, and 
every one, from the internuncio to the junior 
attache , speaks Turkish more or less. The great 
advantages which might be derived from this 
are too apparent to need comment; and it is a 
great pity that such were not in some measure 
the rule at the British embassy. 

The minor diplomatists at Constantinople 
exercise no kind of influence by themselves; 
they are only important in connexion with the 
four great missions, to one or other of which they 
attach themselves, according to the views of their 
governments. They are useful too, occasionally, 
to put forward in cases where a principal am¬ 
bassador might fear to compromise himself or 
his court. One of them, however, Signor 
Quaglia (the minister of Florence) brought him¬ 
self distinctively into notice by giving a grand 


DIPLOMATISTS. 


295 


ball, to which the English ambassador was not 
asked. Corpo di bacco! cintura di Veriere! No 
event ever caused such a sensation at Pera. The 
advent of the Russians at Adrianople and the 
battle of Koniah were trifles in comparison. The 
corps diplomatique was in amazement: the Perotes 
were in consternation. A minister of Florence 
—a mere sleeve of diplomacy—slight one of the 
kings of Pera. Instant war was apprehended 
between England and Florence. All ended 
quietly : the omission had been caused by Lord 
Ponsonby’s neglect in returning Signor Quaglia’s 
visit, and the breach was healed by his lordship 
calling on him the day after the ball. Signor 
Quaglia, however, ought to have known that the 
omission was the result of pure accident: no one 
who know’s Lord Ponsonby could suppose him 
for a moment to be wanting in good breeding. 

I will not here say any more about the in¬ 
mates of Pera, most of whose faces—whether 
Frank, Turk, Greek, or Armenian—were as 
familiar to me as mine was to them, in conse¬ 
quence of having frequented their streets on 
various occasions since 1829, and shared with 
them the excitement occasioned by seasons of 
war and plague. My visit being necessarily 
short this time, I cared not for entering much 
into its gaieties, whether in private life or at the 



296 


STEAMER. 


Casino : I had barely time enough to enjoy the 
society of my old English friends, among whom 
1 am proud to name Mr. Cartwright, and Mr. 
and Mrs. Hardy, who, in manners, feelings, and 
recollections, truly represent old England in the 

East, as all travellers know. 

I left them one fine day (Nov. 20th, 1838) as 
unexpectedly as I had arrived amongst them, 
not without the hope of returning to pass Christ¬ 
mas together, and embarked in the Alexandra 
Russian steamer for Odessa. Owing to sundry 
delays, about coals and cargo, we did not get 
out of the Bosphorus till eight in the evening. 

There was one passenger with me in the cabin, 
a German, surgeon of the quarantine establish¬ 
ment at Kerche, a good-natured sort of man. 
he had a protege with him in a German artisan 
going to settle at Odessa as a watchmaker. 
There were many deck passengers, consisting 
chiefly of Greek traders, and Greek priests going 
to Moscow. The weather was bad; but the wind 
was fortunately in our favour, otherwise our ill- 
constructed vessel (built at Nicolaef) would have 
made little progress ; had it blown hard from the 
northward, we should have been compelled to take 
shelter at Soulinah. The engineer, an English¬ 
man named Milward, said it was enough to break 
an engineer’s heart to be in such a vessel. The 


STEAMER. 


297 


economy of building a bad steamer is truly false: 
double the amount of fuel is required to urge her 
on ; and the same may be said of applying too 
low a power for the volume of the vessel; fuel 
is uselessly expended in an unequal contention 
with wind and sea. Two or three of our deck 
passengers, who were rich enough to have paid 
for a cabin berth (twenty dollars), attempted 
occasionally to shelter themselves on the com¬ 
panion ladder, from which they were speedily 
ejected by the cabin boy, a sharp-witted Ve¬ 
netian, who knew them, and commented on their 
avarice very bitterly : each time he heard their 
steps on the ladder, he was on the alert to send 
them up again with some expressions not very 
flattering to their amour propre: ‘ ‘ pagate avari ,” 
the Veneziano would say, “ e poi calate; ma se 
amate piu i vostri colonnati che la rostra came 
restate pure con Dio nella pioggia . ,# I found 
afterwards at Odessa that one of these avari was 
in possession of a good house and a thriving 
business. In general, a Greek in the way of 
making money is certain of becoming wealthy, 
for he continues in the practice of self-denial : 
another rule is never to give, or to lend, except 

* Pay misers and then come down, but if you love your 
dollars more than your skins, remain on deck with God in 
the rain. 


298 


STEAMER. 


at usurious interest. The captain of the steamer 
was also an Englishman. The number of our 
countrymen employed in foreign steamers is of 
singular advantage to English travellers. The 
steam communication between Odessa and Con¬ 
stantinople had proved a failure in a commercial 
view, but in a political sense it was highly valu¬ 
able, and therefore, a few months afterwards, 
when the company was about to cease its ope¬ 
rations, the Russian government came to its aid 
with 70,000 roubles. The advantage of having 
rapid communication between southern Russia 
and Constantinople is so evident, that 1 imagine 
the Emperor would defray the expense himself, 
rather than give it up. The steamers ply fort¬ 
nightly, except occasionally in winter, when the 
roadstead of Odessa is frozen. The citizens of 
Odessa supply their tables by this means with 
Turkish fruit and oysters, at a cheap rate. The 
oysters of the Bosphorus are justly celebrated. 


ODESSA. 


299 


CHAPTER XIII. 


ODESSA HARBOUR— HONOURS -POLICE OFFICE-QUARAN¬ 
TINE-THE SPOGLIO -CONFINEMENT-RUSSIAN ARMY- 

DOCUMENTS-RELIGIOUS CEREMONY-ODESSA. 


At nine o’clock of the second morning after 
leaving the Bosphorus, we anchored at Odessa. 
The change was complete. We had left a 
balmy sunny autumn, and found winter already 
set in under a dreary aspect. We had left a 
city where police and passports were all but 
unknown, and come to one where they were 
paramount in estimation : our bodies and minds 
had expanded two days before under the in¬ 
fluence of a genial clime and freedom ; here 
they felt contracted by the absence of both : 
quarantine was a mere word at Constantinople; 
at Odessa it was an ugly reality, and we looked 
with dismay at the prison-like buildings, in 
which we should have to sojourn, with a moral 


300 


ODESSA. 


taint upon us before being admitted amongst 
the gay edifices which ornamented the cliff, and 
looked very inviting from our deck. 

In the harbour where we were lying, Lord 
Durham enacted a scene, which is still talked 
of at Odessa, when he arrived there in 1835, 
in the “ Pluto,” from Constantinople, as ambas¬ 
sador extraordinary to St. Petersburgh. As it 
was dusk when the Pluto anchored, the Captain 
of the Russian guard-ship did not make out 
her flag, and therefore omitted to fire a salute. 
There being at that time much irritation between 
England and Russia, on account of the “ port¬ 
folio,” his lordship chose to consider it as a 
premeditated insult; and threatened to return 
forthwith to the Bosphorus. He would not 
accept the excuses of the Russian captain, who 
was in no small alarm at having excited the 
anger of so important a person. “Tell him,” 
he said to the interpreter, “that the time is 
come for the English flag to be respected every 
where, and it shall be respected.” As il in 
spite, the Russians captured the “Vixen” shortly 
afterwards.* However, subsequent honours 

* The “ Vixen” went to trade with the Circassians, on the 
presumption that they were independent. They were so in 
part: but she unluckily put into the bay of Soodjouk Kaleh, 
which had been made over by Turkey to Russia. She was 


ODESSA. 


301 


pacified his Excellency, and shewed him his 
error. Every possible indulgence was shewn 
him in quarantine. When he came out, the 
city authorities waited on him at his hotel with 
“ bread and salt,” and a congratulatory address. 
His journey from Odessa to St. Petersburgh was 
like a royal progress; the authorities of every 
town waiting on him with addresses, whether he 
arrived by day or in the middle of the night. 
The Emperor completed all, by investing him 
with the order of Saint Anne. I hope his lord- 
ship did not regret at Saint Petersburgh, having 
said at Odessa, with becoming spirit, that Eng¬ 
land would spend her last guinea, and shed her 
last drop of blood, before Russia should have 
Constantinople. 

After two hours of the preliminary delay which 
is essential to every business in Russia, all hands 
on board our steamer, including firemen and 
stokers, were summoned to the marine police 
office, in order to undergo the “ question ” (ver¬ 
bally), and to have their passports inspected. 

there captured by the Ajax, Russian brig of war. The 
Russian Court of Admiralty condemned her, on the ground 
that she had been carrying on a contraband trade. The 
Vixen was taken into the Russian service, under the name 
of the “ Soodjouk Kaleh:” at Soodjouk Kaleh a battle was 
fougrht in 1771, between the Abasians. and Turks. 


302 


QUARANTINE. 


We were huddled into a small dismal room. On 
the walls there were three appropriate formula, 
in frames, of an oath to be taken by individuals 
of the Greek, Latin, and Protestant religions, 
who might be examined. Two wooden rails, 
parallel to each other, separating a space three 
feet wide, ran across the apartment, on the farther 
side of which stood the authorities self invested 
with no small share of importance. They were 
very unceremonious in their demands, encou¬ 
raged, no doubt, by the obsequiousness of the 
Italo-Greek party before them. I deemed it 
proper to make an exception to the common rule. 
When my turn came to be questioned, an officer 
in uniform who kept on his hat (which kept mine 
also on my head) asked me superciliously what 
I had come to Odessa for. I replied, “to per¬ 
form quarantine.” An ill suppressed titter among 
the crew and passengers followed this reply. 
The officer became nettled, and said sharply, 
“That is no answer to my question.” “I do 
not know what it is then,” I said ; “it appears 
to me a literal as well as a true answer: besides, 
you have my passport, signed by the Russian 
ambassador at Constantinople, and that ought to 
suffice.” His colleague then whispered some¬ 
thing to him, on which he held his tongue, and 
removed his hat. This person who came to my 


QUARANTINE. 


303 


aid was dressed in plain clothes, and I remem¬ 
bered having remarked his official countenance 
when we were at Odessa in the Mischief yacht, 
and puzzled him exceedingly with the name, 
which he wrote down as Miss Chief , asking us 
at the same time if Miss did not signify Made¬ 
moiselle . I never object to answer proper queries, 
but the official above-mentioned had no right 
whatever to put such a one : that could only pro¬ 
ceed from much higher authority, and then only 
in the case of my having done something against 
the laws and regulations of the empire, or of a 
suspicion being awakened by my conduct. We 
then swore one and all that we were free from 
contagious disorders to the best of our know¬ 
ledge, and after two hours were allowed to return 
on board and prepare for the second ceremony, 
that of being transferred to the lazzaretto. The 
order to land us arrived in another hour; we 
were put into barges and towed to a wooden 
quay which adjoined the gates of the quarantine 
ground. We were there left to our own thoughts, 
shut in between the water and a high wall. 
Nobody cared any more about us. The captain 
of the steamer had washed his hands of his 
live cargo, and the “ guardians ” were not 
forthcoming to take charge of it. Drizzling 
rain made our position very uncomfortable. We 


304 


QUARANTINE. 

were literally plantes , and appeared likely to 
remain so for hours. Fortunately we had a man 
of authority among us, which I had little anti¬ 
cipated from his appearance, in the surgeon of 
the quarantine at Kerche, my fellow passenger 
in the steamer’s cabin. His German noncha¬ 
lance at length gave way ; he waxed impatient, 
and observing to us that he was an officer with 
the rank of major, and our treatment therefore 
the more extraordinary, he went to the gates 
and vociferated loudly to whoever might be 
within hearing on the other side, that he was an 
officer. At the sound of this word, which has 
a magic effect all over Russia, the gates were 
opened. We entered cautiously, as if fearing 
an ambush : we all felt as though we were 
trespassing on hostile ground, and some of us 
began already to feel misgivings at having put 
ourselves within the precincts of martial law. 
The appearance of things was dreary : what met 
our eyes consisted of a muddy yard flanked by 
some low stone magazines, and about half a 
dozen soldiers. The doctor addressed them and 
said, “ I am a major,” in a tone as much as to 
imply, why do you not shew me more respect 
Certainly anybody might have been deceived 
by the unmartial air of the good doctor; never¬ 
theless his word was taken, and the six soldiers 


QUARANTINE. 


305 


doffed tlieir caps, and stood erect ankle deep in 
mud, with the rain washing their hair. “And 
this, continued the Doctor, pointing to me, “is 
an English officer.” The soldiers straightened 
their backs still more, and thrust their thumbs 
lower down the seams of their trousers. Having 
thus gained all outward signs of respect from 
the military, the next thing was to endeavour to 
get some work out of them. Although their 
office was to prevent anybody from communi¬ 
cating with us, so great was their deference 
for two officers, and so fast were they stuck in 
the mud, that we might have put them all in 
quarantine. We succeeded at length in arous¬ 
ing them out of their deferential attitude, and 
setting them to look for a cart. There certainly 
was a strange want of arrangement, and a total 
carelessness about the passengers. I really believe 
that if the doctor had not been with us, we must 
have passed the night in the open air, for there 
was nobody to direct us, and we should have 
been unable to induce the soldiers to put us in 
the way of helping ourselves. In about an hour 
a cart made its appearance. We packed the 
passengers' effects on it, and commenced a 
toilsome ascent to the lazzaretto. The united 
strength of the passengers was necessary to drag 
the vehicle up the hill, but the warmth caused 


x 


306 


QUARANTINE. 


by the exertion repaid our toil. The appearance 
at the summit was equally unsatisfactory with 
that below: there was a long row of low edifices, 
the prisons for the detenus, and a few sentinels, 
with sheep-skin cloaks and jail-coloured visages, 
which harmonized with the cheerless aspect. 
Somebody now appeared to guide us. We were 
conducted in the first place to the smoke-room, 

where Colonel-, the director of the lazzaretto, 

was expecting us. He said that in consequence 
of our late arrival the surgeon had gone away, 
and we could not therefore perform the spoglio 
that day : one day was lost, or rather, one day 
was added to our quarantine, as that could not 
commence until the spoglio had been performed. 
This did not put us in a good humour, espe¬ 
cially as the delay, which had also kept us 
fasting since breakfast, was owing entirely to 
the Director’s want of arrangement in his de¬ 
partment. We maledicted the surgeon of course, 
and my companion openly expressed his opinion 
that, considering he was one of the faculty, his 
brother doctor might have had the complaisance 
to wait a little longer than usual. What were 
we to do next was the question. The director 
said that we must return on board, since, not 
having performed the spoglio , he could not 
assign us quarters. This was preposterous : in 



QUARANTINE. 


307 


the first place, when we should have descended 
the hill into the “slough of despond,” we should 
in all probability have found no boat to carry us 
to the steamer; in the next place, allowing that 
we escaped a lodging on the earth, there was no 
particular reason to presume that we should en¬ 
counter less delay on the morrow, when another 
day might be added to our detention. The 
Director was deaf to reason : we argued in vain. 
At length, observing that I considered ourselves 
exceedingly ill-treated, as in truth we were, I 
added that I should feel it to be my duty, on 
public grounds, to make a report of the same to 
the governor of the city. This innocent menace 
brought a change over the director’s spirit, which 
in noways increased my esteem for him, since he 
ought to have done the right thing of his own 
accord, instead of waiting to be talked into it. 
There were some spare rooms in the establish¬ 
ment, he said, naked in truth, at our service, if 
we chose to put up with them for that night; the 
next day we should be furnished with proper 
apartments. This point being settled, we pro¬ 
ceeded to unpack our trunks. Assistants, in oil¬ 
skin dresses and gloves, examined the contents, 
turned all pockets inside out, and then spread 
them on rods, to be smoked for twenty-four 
hours (in some cases injured) by a villanous 

x 2 


308 


QUARANTINE. 


composition. This precaution is utterly useless; 
it is practised in no other lazzaretto. Our books 
and papers (sealed letters being cut open) were 
put into boxes to be discoloured by the same 
process. Metal utensils and trinkets were passed 
through water. I should have preferred having 
my watch smoked, but the regulations were 
precise ; hydrophobia was inadmissible. It was 
a Breguet, and passed uninjured through the 
ordeal. But the doctor's timepiece did not 
perform its functions with regularity after the 
immersion. It being necessary to leave our 
things in the smoke-room all night, we were 
desired to lock the closet in which our money 
and other articles of value were placed, and keep 
the key. We could not see the motive for this pre¬ 
caution, as none but the officers of the establish¬ 
ment could obtain access to them. W^e refused 
to take the key. Of course nothing was missing. 
After these preliminaries, which occupied two 
hours, we were shewn to our room, where, 
under the guardianship of a Russian soldier, we 
passed a comfortless night between bare walls, 
without bed or couch. We made interest, how¬ 
ever, to get some good tea and some bad cigars. 
Nothing else was procurable at that hour, for 

love or money. 

Passengers of a vessel, performing quarantine 


QUARANTINE. 


309 


at Odessa, are not, as in other places, allowed 
to communicate freely with each other; they 
separate into lots of two, three, or four, and an 
apartment is assigned to each according to the 
means of payment. Our lot consisted of the 
doctor of Kerche, the German artisan whom I 
have mentioned, a Constantinople Jew, and my¬ 
self. We, that is, the doctor and I, had invited 
the artisan and the Jew to join us, because the 
expenses of quarantine would have proved too 
heavy for them. Moses had displayed consider¬ 
able tact on board the steamer in putting him¬ 
self in the way of a good thing, and in singling 
out an Englishman as the object of his particular 
attentions. They were well behaved decent men, 
and were useful to us as well as thankful. We 
were therefore fully repaid. We did them a great 
service without any cost to ourselves. The same 
space, light and firing, would have been required 
had they been absent, while the addition to our 
meals on their account was of no moment. 

Early next morning we were summoned to 
the smoke-room to perform the spoglio. The 
spoglio is a hyper*sanatory precaution against the 
chance of contagion being conveyed by a person 
from Turkey. The individual commences his 
quarantine in puris naturalibus. He strips 
naked in the presence of the director and the 



310 


QUARANTINE. 


surgeon of the lazzaretto, and having passed 
their inspection, puts on clothes supplied either 
by a friend in pratique , or hired from the spen- 
ditore, and wears them till his own garments 
are smoked. I experienced, as an English¬ 
man, a natural reluctance to submit to such 
exposure; nor was I reconciled to the idea by 
the assurance that Count Orlofl, with other dis¬ 
tinguished officers, and even Lord Durham, had 
done so. I was permitted, however, to enter 
the inspection room first and alone. The Director 
and surgeon were already there, established in 
a kind of pulpit. I undressed as fast as possible, 
and as quickly slipped on the suit of clothes 
lying ready; and in which, for it was of a motley 
description, I cut a curious figure. I felt thankful 
for having been suffered to pass muster so easily. 
My medical companion was then introduced, 
and, as no scruples were supposed in him, similar 
forbearance was not observed. Either being 
used to the occurrence, or not caring about 
it, he exhibited the beauties of his person very 
leisurely. He was a short fattish man, whose 
appearance in the primitive guise, before sin 
begat shame, might have tickled anybody’s 
fancy. The inspecting officers smiled. I could 
not help committing myself more openly, for 
he appeared precisely what we may presume 


QUARANTINE. 


31 1 

Mr. Pickwick’s figure to have been when about 
to indulge in a bath. The doctor took my 
gaiety in good part: it would have been useless 
for me to explain; the celebrity of Mr. Pick¬ 
wick had not reached the Cimmerian Bosphorus. 
Next came the German watchmaker and the 
Jew. The son of Levi was shy, and evidently 
washed to conceal the indubitable mark of his 
creed; which w r ould have gained him favour in 
a Mussulman country. His scruples were un¬ 
heeded ; he was bid to extend his arms. Lastly, 
our soldier-guardian walked in. He did not 
care about the affair: he threw off his clothes 
with military promptitude, and stood upright, a 
figure for a sculptor to have gazed on with 
pleasure. I never saw a finer specimen of well- 
set herculean strength. His toilette shewed us 
the substitute for stockings worn by Russian 
soldiers: a piece of linen cloth is wound round 
each foot, including the ankle, over which the 
boot is drawn. They say that it is preferable to 
a stocking: it can be easier washed and dried; 
it adapts itself better to sore feet; and a hole or 
two is of no consequence. 

Thus ended the ceremony of the spoglio , which, 
as I saw it, is utterly unworthy of any country 
calling itself civilized. I have such admiration 
ir the liberal minded Count Woronzow, that 


312 


QUARANTINE. 


without personal experience I should hardly have 
credited the existence in his government of so 
revolting a practice. In our case forbearance was 
shewn; but occasionally, I have heard, every 
feeling of decency is outraged. Impartiality is 
certainly displayed in the application of it to 
everybody. A short time before our arrival, 
the French ambassador to Saint Petersburgh, 
M. de Barante, with his lady and daughter, had 
to submit to it. Ladies are inspected by their 
own sex; that is sufficiently disagreeable, for the 
women employed imagine they are doing their 
duty by being very particular. At times even 
that attention to decorum is wanting. A few 
months before my visit to Odessa, two English 
ladies (one of whom was the wife of a clergyman) 
had to expose themselves to the director and 
surgeon. They remonstrated, as a matter of 
course; but their remonstrances were unheeded : 
the individuals in question insisted upon exer¬ 
cising their authority. I hope, for the credit of 
Russia, that this tale may be untrue. I heard it 
though from a source which I have every reason 
to credit, and the story was current in Odessa. 
The spoglio is useless, because a person would be 
unable to walk about, if plague were so far 
advanced in him as to exhibit visible signs. 
High fever precedes the appearance of spots 


QUARANTINE. 


313 


or buboes: these are the results of the disorder, 
the efforts of nature to free herself; they are not 
the germs of disease.* 

A good apartment was then assigned to us, 
consisting of two rooms and an ante-room, for 
which we paid so much a day—I forget how 
much ; but the charge was high in comparison 
with that at other lazzarettos. We put ourselves 
in communication with the spenditore for the 
supply of our table, obtained some books, cards, 
and a couple of musical boxes from the city, and 
endeavoured to arm ourselves with patience. 
Nevertheless I never passed a much more un¬ 
happy fortnight. The reason was, our room was 
a prison, and no comfort can palliate that. We 
were literally in one. We were not suffered to 
stir out: either way stood a sentry ready to shoot 
us, and to make us more guarded, we were told 
that a man had been recently shot sans cere- 
monie for having gone outside the limits. We 
had no wish to infringe rules, but we certainly 
wanted a little air and exercise. The windows 

* The Russians excuse themselves for being the only 
people who make the spoglio a preparatory step to quarantine, 
because Odessa is so near Turkey. Austria is much nearer, 
being only separated by the Danube or the Save; yet in her 
lazzarettos of Semlin and Orsova, there is not only no spoglio, 
but the quarantine is four days less than at Odessa. 


314 


QUARANTINE. 


being densely frosted, we had difficulty in keep¬ 
ing even one pane transparent, and through that 
our only view was on a stormy sea. Every ob¬ 
stacle was also systematically thrown in the way 
of persons in the city desirous of visiting the 
detenus: a pass was required in the first place, 
and then the visiter had to remain standing in 
the road exposed to the weather, which was very 
inclement. He could not approach us nearer 
than fifteen feet: on either side were iron grat¬ 
ings, through which we looked and shouted at 
each other. A visit to the lazzaretto was so 
inconvenient, that we could not but feel exceed¬ 
ingly beholden to any friends who came to see 
us, feeling it incumbent on us at the same time 
to beg they would not repeat the risk of catching 
a bad cold by exposing themselves in the wind 
and snow on our account. My companion was 
to the full as discontented as myself, but in his 
quality of medical chief of the quarantine esta¬ 
blishment at Kerche, I thought he was only 
enduring a little poetical justice. 

Our little society was a babel in miniature : 
the doctor and I communicated in Italian ; the 
Jew talked to us in Turkish ; the artisan and the 
Russian each kept to his own tongue. We 
obtained some curious information from our 
guardian about the habits and feelings of the 


SOLDIERS. 


315 


Russian soldiery, though I did not require any 
additional light to see that a Russian private is 
the most wretched creature upon earth. His 
term of service is twenty years ; his rations con¬ 
sist of black bread and a little oatmeal; his pay 
is eleven roubles (ten shillings) a year. His life 
is one of incessant privation without one enjoy¬ 
ment. Yet he is good as a soldier; bears his 
load without repining, like the camel, and dies 
without a murmur in a ditch, doubly fortunate 
if he fall in the excitement of battle. The army 
is the weak point of the Russian government, as 
well as its strong one. It is as great an object 
of dread to its master as to its enemies. Ignorance 
and the secret military police suppress any com¬ 
bined expression of discontent; the gauntlet 
and a campaign in the Caucasus restrain partial 
disorders ; but what a mine of danger exists in 
the agglomeration of so vast a body under the 
influence of privation and oppression ! One spark 
may suffice to fire the whole : a simple demand, 
if successful, for an increase of pay to twenty 
shillings a year, and three ounces of meat a day, 
would almost effect a revolution in Russia ; either 
the army would have to be reduced one half, or 
taxation be increased by one fourth. No emperor 
of Russia can ever give himself credit for hu¬ 
manity, or be properly considered other than as 


316 


SOLDIERS. 


a despot, while he keeps a million of his own sub¬ 
jects in the condition of Russian soldiers. No 
sophistry can palliate this state of things : no 
arguments are availing to make such an exercise 
of power fall short of tyranny. People commonly 
exclaim against the unwarrantable conquests of 
Russia, her insatiable ambition over neighbour¬ 
ing states, but they overlook the condition of 
Russians as soldiers. The former may be ex¬ 
cused : this is unanswerable. England has con¬ 
quered far and wide, but her soldiers have ever 
been volunteers and well paid : the Sultans 
poured their wild hordes on the fields of Hungary 
from Africa and Asia, but they appealed to their 
fanaticism, and led them on by the hope of plun¬ 
der and paradise : Russia appeals to no passion, 
flatters no hope, and does not even render her 
soldiers’ existence tolerable. 

Our temporary captivity in a Russian lazzar- 
retto, though a thousand times better than a resi¬ 
dence in a Russian barrack, gave me an insight 
into the nature of confinement. I am sure that 
I shall never again talk lightly of imprisonment; 
and it would be well if certain statesmen could 
have a taste of confinement themselves. They 
would then see the cruelty of sentencing men 
to years of imprisonment, the horror of which 
is aggravated in proportion as the intellect is 


CONFINEMENT. 


317 


elevated by education. It is a strange feature 
in modern civilization that the merciless punish¬ 
ment of long imprisonment should be so heed¬ 
lessly administered, and as if the privation of 
friends and freedom were not a sufficient evil, 
invention is racked to render the interior of 
prisons uncomfortable. The idea of solitary 
confinement, debarring a man from the exercise 
of the faculty which chiefly distinguishes him 
from the brute creation, is, in my opinion, the 
most atrocious one that ever crossed the mind of 
man. I thought of Silvio Pellico one day : I 
remembered that passage of his Prigwni where 
he says, (trying to school himself into philo¬ 
sophy), “ Governiamo Vimaginativa e quasi dap- 
pertutto saremo bene. Un giorno e tosto passato , 
e quando la sera uno si mette a letto senza fame e 
senza dolori acuti , che importa se questo letto sia fra 
mura che si chiaminoprigione, ofra mura che si chia - 
mino palazzo. Ma come fare per governare Vimagi¬ 
nativa ? Io mi vi provava , e talvolta mi sembrava 
che riusciva a meraviglia , ma altre volte la tiranna 
trionfava ed allora io m indispettai della mia 
debolezza.” * Silvio’s argument was founded 

* Let us govern our imagination, and we shall be well 
nearly everywhere. A day is soon over, and when at night 
one goes to bed without hunger and without acute pains, 
what does it signify if this bed is under a roof which is 




318 


CONFINEMENT. 


on error, and therefore fell to the ground, as his 
last sentence shews. It presumed bodily com¬ 
fort, which is out of the question under confine¬ 
ment. One has neither appetite nor any desire 
to sleep. i( Un giorno e iosto passato,” (a day is 
soon over), is also wrong: each day, on the con¬ 
trary, appears an age. Condemnation to hard 
labour on the roads is more merciful than being 
doomed to inactivity in a prison. Labour deadens 
thought ; it is occupation for which the soul 
always yearns ; it gives a zest to coarse food, and 
produces oblivion of woe in a few hours’ sound 
sleep. The gentleman immured for a political 
offence undergoes a heavier punishment than 
the murderer chained to labour as a convict: 
leaving on one side reminiscences and the effects 
of imagination—the dire contrast between so- 
ciety, health, and activity, which he enjoyed, 
and solitude, pallour, and listlessness to which 
he is doomed, — his punishment is literally 
heavier. 

There is nothing like a contrast for lessening 
an evil. It had blown hard all night, and on 

called a prison, or under a roof which is called a palace ? 
But how are we to govern the imagination? I endeavoured 
to do so, and occasionally I fancied that I succeeded won¬ 
derfully; but at other times the tyrant triumphed, and then 
I was vexed at my weakness. 


FELLOW CAPTIVES. 


319 


looking* out at the exposed offing in the morning 
we perceived two merchantmen at anchor in the 
seaway, pitching bows under, and rolling gun¬ 
wales to : ’twas enough to make one sick to see 
them. Ah! we observed, with a look of satis- 
faction, the poor devils in those vessels are worse 
off than we are, and are equally confined : at all 
events, our prison does not pitch and roll about. 
Pour nous encourager ,—we were informed that if 
any of the passengers who came by the same 
conveyance with ourselves should chance to die, 
no matter of what (apoplexy, or any other dis¬ 
order), ten or fifteen days would be added to our 
quarantine. This intelligence made us take a 
great interest in our fellow captives: every day 
we sent to inquire after their health, and as our 
motive could not have been divined, they pro¬ 
bably had an exalted opinion of our good breed¬ 
ing. One day, the spenditore alarmed us, after 
having complimented us on the liberal orders 
which we favoured him with, by lamenting that 
the Hellenic family which had come in the same 
steamer took nothing from him but olives and 
bread. 44 Heavens ! ” we exclaimed, the promi¬ 
nent idea uppermost, “they are not ill?” “No,” 
he replied, “they are well; they are only econo¬ 
mical.” 44 You mistake,’’ we observed, quite 
delighted, 44 they are good Christians; it is 


320 


WRITING. 


fast time with the Greeks: whereas, had 

the crude diet disordered their stomachs, we 
should certainly have agreed with the spenditore s 
thoughts, and have pronounced them avaricious 
Hebrews. 

The commissary of the lazzaretto, a person 
with the rank of major, and a salary of about 
60/. a-year, visited us several times during our 
fortnight s penance, to question us and take 
notes. One day he took an inventory of all our 
things, especially of our books. Our Jew was 
particularly closely examined, because there is 
a law in Russia, since 1833, which prohibits Jews 
from remaining longer than one year in the 
country. Their permit may be renewed, but is 
only good for that period. This law does not 
apply to Jews previously established in the 
country. The writing, occasioned by unassuming 
innocent individuals as we were, explained the 
accumulation of papers in every Russian office, 
and the necessity for such numbers of clerks. 
I saw a letter afterwards from the governor's 
office at Odessa, dated December 30th, 1838, 
marked about 18,600; and by waiting till next 
day, I might have found the number for the series 
increased by fifty more. This mass of documents 
was from one office in one citv. Write to 

•j 

a public office in Russia, and you may be certain 


QUARANTINE. 


321 


that before your affair is ended, the file of letters 
will be two feet high. Letter begets letter; 
explanations suggest further queries; proof ex¬ 
cites suspicion. A bribe, however, will often 
stay proceedings in their outset. 

At length, December 8th, the day of enlarge¬ 
ment arrived. We ordered droskiesand prepared 
to leave our prison; but had first to undergo 
a verbal and personal examination from the 
commissary and the surgeon. The final medical 
inspection was decent, consisting simply in the 
application of some smart taps under the arms, 
to ascertain if any tenderness existed. The Jew 
was in alarm, and alarmed us excessively, on 
account of a boil, which if touched, he averred, 
would infallibly make him shrink, if not cry out. 
We exhorted him to exhibit a Roman-like forti¬ 
tude. Fortunately he was not put to the test; 
the doctor’s fingers avoided the susceptible part. 
Had they touched it, I have no hesitation in say¬ 
ing, that we should have been shut up for a week 
or ten days longer, that the nature of the tumour 
might be ascertained. As a last precaution, we 
were required to take an oath, with all the forms 
of religion, regarding our health, and non-com¬ 
munication with other parties. We were asked 
what priest we preferred. For my part, consider¬ 
ing an oath equally binding before whomsoever 

Y 


322 


PRIESTS. 


it may be taken, I said that a Russian piiest 
would do for me. My companions followed my 
example, though all of them were of different 
creeds. Accordingly, three bearded priests soon 
made their appearance, and proceeded to work 
with due solemnity. A box, with a glass lid, 
containing saints’ images and relics, was placed 
before us on a table. The chief priest then 
robed himself, and recited a long string of sen¬ 
tences, utterly unintelligible to those to whom 
they were addressed; while each of us held up 
our forefinger (by order), and nodded occasion¬ 
ally, as if in assent. The ceremony terminated 
by our kissing the glass cover; and we were then 
declared to be purified in mind and body. The 
doors were immediately afterwards thrown open, 
and we ran out in the snow as joyful as school¬ 
boys at play-time. Having amused the sentry, 
muffled up in a sheep-skin cloak, with our antics 
for some minutes, we mounted our droskies and 
galloped to the health-office; over which a Prince 
Gagarin presided. His highness arranged about 
our passports with great politeness; and had the 
further kindness to send one of his clerks with us 
to facilitate the transit of our baggage through 
the custom-house. No scrutiny was exercised 
there, excepting in regard to our books, which 
were taken from us, even to a pocket dictionary, 


CENSOR. 


323 


and sent to the censor’s office. They were all 
returned after some time, excepting a French 
translation of “ Turkey, Greece, and Malta.” 
The same work was for sale at Odessa at that 
very time; shewing that the censorial inquisi¬ 
tion can be evaded. 

I took up my quarters at the Hotel de Paris. 


324 


ODESSA. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

ODESSA—GOVERNORS—SOCIETY—CLIMATE—CONSUMPTION— 

RUSSIANS AND GREEKS — SPECULATIONS — BRANDY MONO¬ 
POLY-GREEK MERCHANTS-MERINO SHEEP. 

Having gained the entrance of Odessa through 
the purgatory of quarantine, I may be supposed 
to have found it a paradise. I remained long 
enough in it, however, to correct first impres¬ 
sions, and must say that too much cannot be 
said in favour of the capital of southern Russia, 
which is, at the same time, the third city of 
the empire in point of wealth and consideration. 
When the territory between the rivers Bug and 
Dnieper was ceded to Russia by the peace ofYassy 
in 1792, the site of Odessa was occupied by a 
Tartar village called Hodjabey. The Russians 
soon perceived the importance of the situation 
in a commercial view. Admiral de Ribas drew 
attention to it: he invited colonists from Russia, 
Greece, and Albania; and the government 
seconded him by making it a sanctuary for 
evaded serfs, and a free port. From this simi- 


ODESSA. 


325 


larity between the peopling of their city and that 
of Rome, the Odessans compare it with the 
eternal city, and date their almanacs from the 
foundation of Odessa. The Duke de Richelieu 
gave the chief impetus to the new city by a wise 
and liberal government, and by a personal de¬ 
meanour and integrity which it would have been 
difficult to find in a Russian. As the favourite 
of the Emperor Alexander, his word was law; 
his recommendations were always attended to, 
and no man could have better merited the trust 
reposed in him, or the respect which the inhabi¬ 
tants preserve for his memory. A fine bronze 
statue of the Duke facing the sea, ornaments the 
promenade on the cliff. He built a handsome 
theatre when the city was scarcely begun, wisely 
judging that some attraction ought to be offered to 
individuals to come and settle on the wild steppe. 
An Italian company performs at Odessa nine 
months of the year, and as they are well sup¬ 
ported, the entertainment is remarkably good, 
equal to the performances at second-rate cities 
in Italy. Count Woronzow has trod in the Duke 
de Richelieu’s steps, and has done, as an English¬ 
man (by education) for Odessa, what the other, 
as a French noble, could hardly have thought 
pf: he has raised the merchants in their own 
estimation, deprecated the military overbearing 


326 


ODESSA. 



so common in Russia, and established a club in 
the English fashion. At this club there is no 
exclusiveness; all may belong to it, and I have 
seen the governor and shopkeepers sit down at 
the same table. By this concurrence of fortu¬ 
nate circumstances, aided by its necessarily be¬ 
coming the debouchk for the produce of Podolia 
and Bessarabia, Odessa is become a singularly 
flourishing place, and justly ranks as one of 
the most marvellous creations of the nineteenth 

1 

century. 

It contains, without counting the extensive 
suburbs of Moldovanka and Peresippe, forty- 
' seven streets, six squares, ten churches, a 
theatre, a rope-walk, barracks, a hospital, a 
prison, a Lyceum, an imperial institution for 
young ladies, an exchange, a library, * a 
museum and other public edifices; besides near 
forty country-houses with gardens, in the vici¬ 
nity. It has 60,000 inhabitants, including 
those in the suburbs, of whom more than one 


* The library of Odessa, founded in 1829, contains 20,000 
volumes, including a rich collection of Oriental manuscripts. 
The museum of Odessa, which is under the same roof as 
the library, contains a valuable collection of Greek and 
Roman medals and vases found in the Crimea. Both these 
establishments are open from nine till two every day, except 
on fete days. Signor Spada is the worthy librarian, and 
custos of the Museum. 


ODESSA. 


327 


half are Russians; the remainder are chiefly 
Greeks, Germans, and Jews, with a few French, 
Italians, and English. The wants of the popu¬ 
lation have called all trades into requisition : 
there are thirty brokers, thirty-five doctors, nine 
pharmacies, two dentists, six midwives, six 
bakers, ten'shoemakers, thirteen tailors, five 
coachmakers, three hairdressers, five whitesmiths, 
five watchmakers, six milliners, six upholsterers, 

« 

ten watchmakers and jewellers, one optician, 
two goldsmiths, three pianofortemakers, three 
bookbinders, four turners, four dyers, five con¬ 
fectioners, three libraries, nine wine stores, two 
French and two English magazines, besides 
many other concerns of inferior note. The city 
is well and regularly built; the streets are straight 
and wide, the houses are spacious, and the archi¬ 
tecture elegant, in the Italian style. The only 
defect is that the streets are too wide, too wide 
because unpaved, excepting Richelieu-street : 
and being exposed to the most sudden changes 
of temperature and to violent gusts of wind, the 
dust is intolerable at times, and at other times 
the mud runs in rivers, or lies like stagnant 
lakes. A wit sketched a coat of arms for Odessa, 
and wrote for the motto, qui trotte se crotte. The 
mud is indescribable. It is not uncommon to see 
a carriage stuck fast in the middle of a street; and 


328 


ODESSA. 


not many years ago individuals were drowned 
in the mud of the Greek bazaar in winter. I 
often drove through it with the wheels of my 
drosky immersed to the axles. This evil appears 
surprising when we consider that the revenue 
of the city is above 60,000/. a-year ; but official 
corruption, or rather necessity, explains it. 
The town supports the hospital and prison, 
and gives 7000 roubles a year to the Lyceum 
Richelieu,* (for which also every tchetwert of 
wheat exported is taxed ten kopecks, (lie/.); 
the rest is appropriated to make up for ina¬ 
dequate salaries. The employes cannot live on 
their pay. A man with the rank of excellency 
has a place with 100/. a year salary: he is ex¬ 
pected to keep a good house, and must drive 
four horses because he is noble. The chief of 
the customs used to have the most lucrative 
opportunities at Odessa ; but abuse is very much 
checked in that department. The master of the 
police has the best thing now the salary is 

* Most of the sciences are taught at the Lyceum. It was 
founded by the Abbe Nicole, who introduced the system of 
private education into Petersburgh. The young ladies’insti¬ 
tution at Odessa gives an ornamental education: they come 
out good linguists, tolerable musicians, and pretty dancers, 
with a smattering of botany, and some ideas of design. 

f Police emoluments in Russia are derived from various 
sources. The brandy monopolists pay so much a month, in 


ODESSA.. 


329 


150/. a year, but the place is worth 3000/. a year. 
There is not even the trace of a road near 
Odessa, and the inhabitants send three miles off 
for their water. Such things as roads and water- 
pipes never seem to enter into the system of any 
but English colonists: they may be thought of 
at last, while with us the first consideration is 
bestowed on them. Nevertheless, I repeat, 
Odessa is a remarkable city, and were it blessed 
with a finer climate, would be a desirable resi¬ 
dence for anybody ; it certainly is so for Rus¬ 
sians. On account of the freedom of expression 
allowed in it, and the absence of great military 
establishments, many noble families of Peters- 
burgh, the Narishkins to wit, have houses there 
as well as in the Crimea ; they think nothing of 

7 j O 

journeying 1800 miles to enjoy the southern sun. 
They have that hot enough, but in other respects 
the climate is detestable. In the first place you 
live in a whirlwind ; every wind of the steppe and 
of the sea centres in Odessa. Then, the ther¬ 
mometer varies 14° of Reaumur in twenty-four 
hours, as I witnessed on tw r o occasions, from 2° 
of heat to 12° of cold. The winter of 1838-9 
was mild ; the mercury never descended lower 

order that the cabarets may remain open on Sundays and 
fete days. Stolen property when recovered is rarely restored 
to the owner, etc. 


330 


CONSUMPTION. 


than (Reaumur) of cold, and the port was 
not frozen for above three weeks. The sea was 
only once frozen out of sight, and the conge¬ 
lation was effected in twelve hours. On this 
occasion we had the pleasure of sledging in the 
streets, which then presented a very animated 
appearance. In consequence of these sudden 
changes from heat to cold, and vice versa , pul¬ 
monary complaints may be supposed to be 
common. Such, how r ever, is not the case, owing 
to the uniform temperature which is kept up 
by means of stoves, throughout halls, stair¬ 
cases, saloons, and bedrooms. The comfort of 
this is not to be told: a house is enjoyed in its 
whole extent equally in winter and summer : 
doors are left open, and flowers bloom on the 
staircases. Stove heat by itself is rather dis¬ 
agreeable at first, though not unwholesome; but 
when combined with English fires, the perfec¬ 
tion of agreeable warmth is attained, the cir¬ 
culation of air being then free. I saw this union 
in the houses of the English at Odessa, and have 
heard that the Russians are beginning to imitate 
it at St. Petersburgh. Were the practice hap¬ 
pily introduced into England, of maintaining all 
the interior of a house at the same tempera¬ 
ture, I am convinced that consumption would, 
in many cases, be prevented. As soon as ever 


CONSUMPTION. 


331 


one’s lungs are affected , in England, the physi¬ 
cian orders the patient to keep his or her sitting 
and bedroom at the same temperature: had 
that rule been earlier followed, the tendency to 
disease would have been materially checked if 
not removed. No chance is given to weak lungs 
in England : we systematically expose them to 
sudden and great changes of heat and cold. 
See a delicate girl, for example, in winter, 
whose pale face, bright eyes, and sensitive frame 
indicate a predisposition to disease ;—she sits all 
day in a drawing-room at a temperature of 65° 
or 70° Fahrenheit, and passes the night in a room 
15° or 20° cooler. Should there be a fire in her 
bedroom when she retires to rest, the transition 
is yet greater towards morning, by the current 
of air drawn down the chimney by the expiring 
embers and the heated grate.* If the weather is 
unusually severe, the water on the washhand- 
stand may be frozen in the morning. Having 
thus breathed cold air for seven or eight hours, 

* At an English country-house where the author was stay¬ 
ing during part of the severe winter of 1837-8, which was 
signalized by Mr. Murphy’s happy guess of the coldest day, 
(Feb. 8), the water in every bedroom with a fire was frozen 
in the morning. In one room where the fireplace was shut 
up by a board, the water was not frozen. The reason was 
evident: that room was free from the cold air descending 
the chimney. 


332 


CONSUMPTION. 


she descends to inhale anew a heated atmo¬ 
sphere. This action and re-action on the poor 
lungs go on till the melancholy farce of applying 
the stethescope and tapping at the chest and 
back for indicative sounds is performed, and the 
doctor oracularly announces the fatal apprehen¬ 
sion : then the necessity of breathing an equal 
temperature day and night is enforced, and a 
system prescribed, which, useless as a remedy, 
would have been successful as a preventive. 
If my reader has ever had his or her heart lace¬ 
rated by witnessing a case of consumption, the 
force of the above remarks will be acknowledged. 
Affection in such cases unavailingly refers back 
to some presumed accidental want of precaution 
as the cause, while it was only the drop which 
made the cup flow over: it overlooks the evil 
practice, and habitual imprudence of allowing 
weak lungs to inhale a cold air all night, many 
degrees colder than that breathed throughout 
the day. 

Every doctor, in sending a consumptive person 
to winter in a southern climate, admits that had 
that precaution been adopted before the disease 
developed itself, there might have been hope; 
as it is, he generally acknowledges there is none 
—“ it is too late.” He exiles his patient to 
spare the affected lungs the transition from an 


CONSUMPTION. 


333 


English summer to winter: does he not know 
that that transition is seen and felt every twenty- 
four hours (in winter) in nearly every house in 
England, in the change from a sitling-room to 
a bedroom. We develope the disease by our 
habits, and then blame the climate. We might 
as well remove an orange tree from the con¬ 
servatory to the hall after sunset, as let a person, 
predisposed to consumption, sit in a heated 
drawing-room by day, and breath cold air all 
night. It is virtually, as if he were transported 
by an Aladdin’s ring from Valette to London 
every evening, and brought back again in the 
forenoon. 

In cases where the remedial art is powerless, 
common sense and experience are worth all the 
faculty together; and both teach us, that any 
part of the human frame which is disposed to 
inflammation ought to be secluded as much as 
possible from atmospherical changes, and by 
attention to that, the weak organ, or part, may 
attain a natural degree of strength; or, at all 
events, the impending danger be averted for an 
indefinite period. The orientals (I speak of the 
inhabitants of Turkey), who are unable from 
ignorance to treat various disorders which are 
curable in western Europe, study the art of pre¬ 
vention: aware of their inability to grapple with 


334 


CONSUMPTION. 


gout, rheumatism, gravel, liver complaint, etc. 
they take care to draw the humours to the sur¬ 
face, in order to evaporate through the pores, 
by the constant use of vapour baths: aware of 
their liability to deadly bowel complaints, owing 
to the transitions of their climate, they effectually 
guard against them by wearing very warm sashes: 
aware of the distressing effects of checked per¬ 
spirations in the head, and of coups de soleil, 
they secure themselves from one and the other 
by shaving and daily washing the scalp, and by 
wearing wadded caps, or turbans; so that no 
change of temperature can be felt. An indivi¬ 
dual, in western Europe, may brave gout, liver 
complaint, rheumatism, or anything else, be¬ 
cause there are doctors to relieve him: he may 
prefer the chance of getting ill, with the pro¬ 
bable certainty of a'cure, to the trouble of pre¬ 
vention: he may go out under a hot sun, with 
a straw hat and thin jacket on, with the com¬ 
fortable assurance, that if he should get a 
brain fever, or an inflammation of the bowels, 
the doctor will get him through it, with the 
aid of blisters, bleeding, and calomel: but 
the oriental feels, that under such visitations he 
should die, and therefore he adopts the pre¬ 
cautions suggested by experience and reason. 
And although we may not agree entirely with 


CONSUMPTION. 335 

*> 

the practice of medicated Europe (which, how¬ 
ever, we have followed very often) of braving 
nature, and trusting to luck or the doctor, still, 
as most disorders can be cured there, there is 
some reason for not fearing them, and there is no 
great harm in getting ill occasionally in order to 
encourage the medical art: but when we come 
to a disease—consumption, which is incurable , it 
behoves those concerned to follow the example 
of orientals, and by precautions, keep out the 
enemy, who is not to be dislodged afterwards. 
This is only to be attained by persons, in whom 
a disposition to pulmonary complaint may be 
supposed to exist, from hereditary or other causes, 
keeping their sitting and sleeping apartments at 
about an equal temperature. It is a grand error 
to suppose that, by living in a warm house we 
are made chilly out of doors :„the caloric imbibed 
requires time to evaporate ; and we may remain 
exposed to cold for any time without danger, pro¬ 
vided we have a perfectly warm room to sleep 
in. In European Turkey and Russia the first 
question the traveller asks in winter, on arriving 
at his night’s station, is “ Have you a warm 
room ?” If that is answered affirmatively, he is 
satisfied. I can speak practically of the bene¬ 
ficial effects of sitting and sleeping in rooms of 
uniform temperature : till I arrived at Odessa, 


336 


STOVES. 


I never passed a winter without having a severe 
cough ; I had not the slightest one there, al¬ 
though the changes from heat to cold, and vice 
versa , were more sudden than had usually been 
remembered by the inhabitants. There is con¬ 
siderable comfort, too, in sleeping under one 
light coverlet instead of a load of blankets as in 
England ; one inducement also to lie in bed of a 
morning is withdrawn by not having to get 
up in a cold room. Russian stoves (one of 
them warms two rooms) are of the height of the 
apartment, and are about two and a half or three 
feet square. The smoke evolves through brick 
tubes artistically constructed in spirals or other¬ 
wise. When the wood is thoroughly charred, 
the valve is closed and the heat retained. The 
mode is economical. When the glass does not 
descend much under the freezing point, light¬ 
ing once in the morning suffices for the twenty- 
four hours. The possibility of asphixia is thereby 
avoided, though from constant practice that never 
occurs, even at St. Petersburgh, where the stoves 
are replenished in the evening. The small quan¬ 
tity of fuel consumed is surprising, considering 
the complete result. Firewood is dear at Odessa, 
being brought from the Crimea, and the Don, 
and sometimes from more distant places, yet 
there the expense of heating a house as large as 


RUSSIANS. 


337 


Gore-House, Kensington, in every part, is about 
100/. a year. 

Owing to their inclement climate, the inhabi¬ 
tants of southern Russia have few out-door amuse¬ 
ments or pursuits : at least I remarked none at 
Odessa. Society, therefore, being necessary, is 
formed on a mutual system : one house or another 
is ‘ open ’ every night for cards, music, dancing, 
and tea, with supper occasionally. An intro¬ 
duction is equivalent to an invitation for the 
season. Some houses have their dinner days ; 
once a guest, a plate is always laid for you. In 
addition, there are public balls at the Casino and 
the Exchange, both of which are well adapted 
for the lively and crowded Mazurka, and the 
opera is open three times a week. We had, there¬ 
fore, no reason to complain of dulness. I would 
not describe the Russians as social, but they cer¬ 
tainly are gregarious : they are not happy out of 
a crowd. They are drawing-room people ; but 
are insipid as companions on account of the 
restraint which is imposed on the expression of 
thought, and of the absence of subjects of dis¬ 
cussion, whether on politics or literature. Cards 
are the chief resort of the men, and the women 
indulge in scandal, for which it must be said 
Russian life affords fruitful topics. Books are 
rarely seen in a Russian house. In the circu- 


338 


RUSSIANS. 


lating libraries at Odessa, there were few books 
besides French novels and memoirs, generally 
of the worst description, with a few Russian 
authors. # The society at Odessa is divided into 
two sets, the Russian and the Italo-Greek. The 
former is the best, being less imbued jtvith the 
mercantile spirit. F perceived a decided schism 
between the Russians and the Greeks established 
in Russia each appeared to hate the other. The 
sectarian, calculating character of the Greeks is 
totally at variance with the careless spendthrift 
habits of the Russians. Both love money, and 
obtain it by any means; but the one loves it for 
itself, the other for the enjoyments which it pro¬ 
cures: the one may be liberal through calculation, 
the other is so by impulse : both affect display in 
entertainments and equipages, but the Greek is 
actuated by the vanity of shewing his wealth, the 
Russian by the desire of amusing himself. The 
itch which Russians have for pedlaring and barter 
is a singular feature in their character, and forms 
a strange contrast with their extravagant habits: 
they take pleasure in turning a penny , which, it 
may be observed, is peculiarly an Asiatic and 
Judaic propensity. The Narishkin family is 
one of noblest in Russia (being related to the 

* Vide Appendix, for a notice on Russian authors and 
literature. 


RUSSIANS. 


339 


Romanofs), and very wealthy: General Leon 
Narishkin, one of the members of it, possesses a 
splendid house at Odessa, where he has occasion- 
ally resided in good style. Among other luxuries, 
he has a fine stud of horses. These horses were 
to beffrired, by the hour or the day, by anybody. 
I would not have credited this had I not hired a 
horse myself from his stables. I was informed 
that some of the clerks in the public offices were 
in the habit of letting their private droskies ply 
for hire during office hours, then return for their 
masters in the evening. 

Several of the Greek houses at Odessa received; 
but we found the most polished and agreeable 
reunions at the Countess Zaehazevska’s and 
at Mr. IslainefFs (Russians). Madame Zacha- 
zevska was of the noble family of Zomoiloff: she 
lived in a state of conjugal separation, according 
to the usual noble Russian custom, and her bro¬ 
ther, Count Zomoiloff, then at Odessa, kept her 
in countenance by a similar proceeding: his lady 
led a life of fashionable notoriety at Milan. The 
elite of Odessa met at Madame Zachazevska’s 
house once a week, and were certain of passing a 
very agreeable evening, enlivened by the talents 
and savoir vivre of the fair hostess, who, although 
of a certain age, retained all the facility and 
liveliness of youth. I have remarked that the 

z 2 . 


340 


SPECULATION. 


Russians rarely get old in manner and thought, 
thanks to the paternal solicitude of their govern¬ 
ment to prevent them from thinking for them¬ 
selves : those who think much, generally quit 
public life and live on their estates. Mr. Islai- 
neff’s house was of a different description, being 
regulated in a more quiet and domestic tone, 
well calculated to give a stranger an advanta¬ 
geous idea of Russian family life. His lady and 
three daughters were good specimens of the 
Russian fair sex; amiable, agreeable, and highly 
accomplished. Several of the ladies at Odessa 
spoke good English, owing the accomplishment 
to a St. Petersburg!! education, of which it forms 

an essential part. Miss L-, the daughter 

of a government employe , accented our language 
so purely as to make me douot her nationality 
at first. Her father had been a wealthy man, 
but had recently embarrassed himself, like many 
other Russians, by a beet-root sugar specula¬ 
tion.* Mr. Islaineff was also a great speculator, 

* Count Bobrinsky (a natural son, it is said, of Catherine 
II.) is the only proprietor likely to gain by the beet-root 
speculation: he has a great advantage in having 12,000 
peasants together, and his estate (near Toola) is on a river. 
The- government has warned speculators in beet-root not to 
expect protection by restrictive duties, or exemption trom 
internal duty. The Russian government derives a good 
revenue from the importation of raw sugar. 



SPECULATION. 


341 


and was at that time brandy farmer for Odessa 
and the adjoining district, a circuit of 80 versts. 
He paid 900,000 roubles (about 41,000/. a year ' 
to government for the monopoly, and was said to 
clear from 150,000 to 200,000 roubles a year by’ 
the bargain. Large fortunes have been made in 
Russia by the brandy contracts, but others^again 
have been lost. A failure in the corn harvest 
necessarily runs brandy up, while the contractor 
is bound to sell at a certain price. But Mr. Is- 
laineff was lucky the year I was at Odessa: he 
purchased brandy at Kief (which is exempted 
from the influence of the monopoly) for two 
roubles (Is. 10 d.) per vedro (3i gallons), while 
his legal charge at Odessa was sixteen roubles 
(14s. 8 d.) the vedro. Brandy is a monopoly all 
over Russia excepting in a few localities. The 
farmers pay to government 160,000,000 roubles 
(7,000,000/.) a year. # The duty on brandy is 
so profitable that government has thought of 
taking the excise into its own hands, but the 
corruption of Russian employes makes it hazard¬ 
ous to try the experiment. 

* The contract for St. Petersburgh which expired in 1838 
cost 12,000,000 roubles a year: on being put up to auction 
again, an advance of 6,000,000 roubles a year was offered, 
with the understanding, however, that a slight increase 
should be made to the retail price. 


342 


GREEKS. 


Speculation is carried on in every thing in 
southern Russia, which has long been considered 
an el dorado , and certainly has been so for many. 
But the Russians have had little share in the 
profits. The monopoly of money-making has 
been chiefly in the hands of Greeks, Armenians, 
and Jews. Many large fortunes have been 
realized by Greek houses at Odessa in the last 
twenty-five years, and nearly the whole foreign 
trade is in their hands: the two English houses 
do very little business in comparison. Mr. 
Marazly, a Greek of Philippopolis, is a remark¬ 
able instance 6f success: he began business, at 
Odessa, as a retail vender of olives, caviar, dtc. 
and in 1838, was reckoned one of the richest 
men in the place. Mr. Ralli is another example: 
he is a Greek of Scio, and one of five brothers 
who carry on an extensive trade in concert; 
their operations embracing England, France, 
Turkey, Persia, and Russia. One brother is 
settled in London, another in Manchester, another 
at Constantinople. We find wealthy Greeks 
Tn every country excepting Greece; and here 
lies the principal reason of its non-progress: 
Greece is no country for the modern Greeks; 
^their talents and riches are employed elsewhere. 
Greece is only a recollection, not a tangible 
existence. It is to them as Jerusalem is to 

r^ 


MERINOS. 


343 


the Jews. And they are become like the Jews— 
found in every country, with their own language 
and customs—forming a part of every commu¬ 
nity, but amalgamating with none—and pursuing 
commerce happily under any sort of government. 

One of the most successful, as well as interesting 
speculations in southern Russia, has been in 
merinos; ( and the commencement was attended 
with such difficulty and chance, as to make it 
rather romantic. Mr. Rouvier, a French mer¬ 
chant, at Malaga, on becoming bankrupt in 
1802, resolved to try fortune anew in Russia. 
He embarked in a vessel bound to the Euxine, 
apd lande<| at Sevastopol. Thence, traversing 
the country to Nicolaef, he was struck with the 
extent and fertility of the steppe; and reverting 
to the grazing lands in Spain, thought that 
merinos would thrive on it. His fortune then 
consisted, it might be said, in a piece of paper 
and a pencil. He drew out a memoir, in which 
he described the condition and expense of merinos 
in Spain, and pointed out the advantage of 
introducing the breed into a country where pas¬ 
turage was unlimited and unowned. This was 
sent to the Minister of the Interior. The author 
demanded a grant of 10,000 diseatines of land, 
and a loan of 100,000 roubles without interest: 
he offered to return to Spain to purchase rams; 


344 


MERINOS. 


and proposed that a government agent should 
accompany him if deemed requisite. He engaged 
to have 10,000 merinos on his land at the end 
of twelve years; and to have repaid half of the 
loan. The government agreed to these terms. 
A vessel was freighted for Mr. Rouvier, who 
sailed for Spain, provided with letters for the 
Russian embassy at Madrid. On arriving at 
Malaga the hitherto successful adventurer caught 
the yellow fever, and there lost three months 
between sickness and quarantine. This delay 
nearly caused the complete failure of the 
enterprise; for when he at length reached 
Madrid, the Russian ambassador had just quar¬ 
reled with Godoy, and therefore no assistance 
was forthcoming in that quarter. In those days 
the exportation of merinos was prohibited, and 
only granted occasionally as a special favour. 
After dancing attendance for two months, and 
exhausting all the ante-chamber modes of ob¬ 
taining his suit indirectly, Rouvier solicited an 
audience of the Prince of Peace, with the deter¬ 
mination to throw himself at his feet if necessary, 
in order to gain leave to export a few rams. 
Godoy said to him, “ If you had addressed your¬ 
self to me in the first place, I would have granted 
your request; but as you chose to make the 
Russian ambassador your mediator, you may 


MERINOS. 


345 


return : you shall not have one sheep.”—Rouvier 
accordingly left Madrid, and returned to Malaga 
in despair; for the issue of the negotiation was 
to make his fortune, or leave him a beggar. 
He was about to re-embark for Russia, when an 
hidalgo came to him mysteriously, and said, ‘‘I 
know your object: I will dispose of one hundred 
rams to you; name the breed you prefer, and 
you shall have them.” 

Rouvier of course accepted the unexpected 
offer, and willingly agreed to the enormous price 
demanded. It was settled between them that he 
should ship a slight cargo for the Crimea, to avert 
suspicion; then sail, and after dark alter his course 
for a certain cove to the westward of Malaga. If 
his signal-light should be answered, he was to 
send his boat on shore for the sheep, with the 
money. All turned out as desired; and—Jason- 
like—he sailed away triumphantly with the golden 
fleece. At the Dardanelles he was detained two 
months by a foul wind. He arrived at Sevas¬ 
topol at length with eighty sheep remaining out 
of the hundred, and there experienced another 
delay by quarantine. That being terminated, 
the ship was weighing anchor to move into the 
harbour, half a mile distant, when Rouvier, 
struck by a presentiment of danger, entreated 
the captain to land him and his flock at the 


346 


MERINOS. 


lazzaretto. The captain ridiculed his fears, and 
naturally objected to lose time in order to gratify 
a whim. Nevertheless he yielded to the nearly 
frantic solicitations of his passenger, and set him 
on shore with his sheep. Scarcely was he 
landed, and the vessel under sail, when a squall 
took her between the reefs, which form the 
entrance of Sevastopol harbour, and threw her 
on the rocks, where she bilged and went to 
pieces. Mr. Rouvier led his charge to Theo¬ 
dosia. He gave twenty rams to the minister of 
the interior, twenty to the president of the 
council, and with forty commenced operations 
on his own account. He crossed with sheep of 
the country, and four years afterwards obtained 
an important addition to his stock from Saxony. 
He fully realized his promises. He left a large 
fortune amongst his three daughters, one of 
whom had married his partner, Mr. Wassal. 

Mr. Wassal (whose property is near Perecop) 
is said to derive (1839) near 180,000 roubles a 
year from merino sheep. The example has 
been extensively followed in Russia.* Many of 

* In 1824 there were no merinos in Livonia and Esthonia; 
in 1838 there were 140,000 head. 

M. Reveillad (a Frenchman); M. Pictet (a Genevese); 
M. Paii (aDutchman); and M. Fitsch (a Wirtemburgher), 
have greatly improved the breed of merinos in southern 
Russia. 


MERINOS. 


347 


the German and other colonists on the steppe, 
and in Bessarabia, have flocks of 20,000 sheep. 
The long and inclement winter in southern 
Russia renders great care necessary; but the 
grazing and the air in summer are peculiarly 
adapted to the breed. I imagine, as I observed 
in a preceding chapter, that merinos might be 
introduced successfully into those parts of Asia 
Minor which adjoin the Euxine, the Propontis, 
and the Archipelago ; the climate is like that of 
Spain, and the animals might remain out nearly 
all the year. 


< 


348 


CORN. 


CHAPTER XV. 


COHN-CORN-LAWS — FAMINE-PROPRIETORS—SERFS-MER¬ 
CHANTS-ARTIFICIAL NOBILITY-MILITARY RANK-DE¬ 
GRADATION -EXILES -CORRUPTION-SECRET POLICE- 

POLES-THE CIRCASSIANS. 

I found the community of Odessa in a state of 
exultation and excitement caused by the scarcity 
of corn in England. The subject interested 
everybody. Everybody dealt in corn : nothing 
else was spoken of. Poland, Circassia, Persia, 
Turkey, and even the Emperor, were unthought 
of beside the all-absorbing topic. Every post 
from the West increased the feeling, because every 
post brought a higher quotation from Mark-lane. 
Fortunes were making, and larger ones were 
anticipated. The price on Change was already 
doubled. Corn, which had been purchased at 
Odessa for twelve or thirteen roubles the tchet- 
wert. three months before, was selling at twenty- 
four roubles the tchetwert. One house had made 


CORN. 


349 


12,000/. by merely buying and selling on the 
spot. Freights were also doubled ; and as the 
sea remained open all the winter, with the excep¬ 
tion of three weeks, 400 carts were in constant 
requisition for transporting corn from the maga¬ 
zines to the port. Odessa had not known such 
a prosperous year since 1817-18, the year of the 
previous scarcity in England;* and Taganrok, 
Berdiansk, etc. shared in the good fortune. The 
exports of Odessa, in 1838, exceeded 38,000,000 
of roubles in value. Thus, nolens volens 7 we 
strangers were drawn into the question, and 
listened to discussions, and talked about corn, 
if not as learnedly, as earnestly as our neigh¬ 
bours, though I confess that it was melancholy 
for an Englishman to witness the joy occasioned 
by the distresses of his countrymen. 

The English corn laws necessarily came in for 
a share of remark, and that of a caustic nature: 
they were universally condemned by the mer¬ 
chants because interfering with their trade as 
they supposed ; and the landowners of England 
were voted cruel and grasping in creating an 
artificial price of bread. Knowing that few 
people care less in general than merchants and 

* In that year, 1818, the immense demand from western 
Europe raised the price of wheat at Odessa to 50 roubles 
the tchetwert: 100 tchetwerts make 74 English quarters. 




350 


COHN. 


manufacturers about the distresses of the lower 
classes in any country—their own fortunes being 
based on competition for bare subsistence in the 
labour market—I took the sweeping denunci¬ 
ation at its fair value, and gave the speakers no 
particular credit for professing humanity: but 
one day, at a dinner, one of the gentlemen pre¬ 
sent spoke so feelingly about the cruelty of the 
English gentry in keeping up the corn laws, 
that I fairly attributed a nobler motive to him 
than the love of gain, and readily concurred in 
wishing that the free importation of corn into 
England could be permitted, as a measure not 
unlikely to benefit the poor. Next morning, 
after the arrival of the post, I met him on the 
Boulevard : “Good news,” he exclaimed, “from 
England!” As the word “news” in that day 
at Odessa related solely to corn, I naturally said, 
“the price of corn is lower then ? ” “O ! no,” 
he said, “just the reverse, the price is raised : ” 
then, suddenly recollecting our conversation of 
the preceding evening, he reddened. “You see,” 
I rather maliciously observed, “the English land- 
owners are not the only people who like to raise 
the price of corn, or who appear to be unmind¬ 
ful of the poor when their own interests are at 
stake.” 

The Odessa merchants, however, notwith- 


CORN. 


351 


standing their outcry against the English corn 
laws, would certainly lose by their abolition. 
Their great gains are derived from the uncer¬ 
tainty of the trade, which gives them a monopoly 
of it, by enabling them to buy corn cheap from 
the Polish and other proprietors, who have not 
the means of speculating, or are ignorant of the 
state of the markets. The immense profit of this 
trade may be deduced from the circumstance, 
that corn which fetched in London from 50 to 60 
roubles the tchetwert in the beginning of 1839, 
when the duty was nominal, had been sold a few 
months earlier in Poland at seven or eight roubles 
the tchetwert . The parties most interested—the 
producers and the consumers—gained no advan¬ 
tage from this state of things. High prices in 
London did not enrich the Poles: low prices in 
Poland failed to benefit the English. The 
Polish proprietor knew nothing of the demand 
in England, or, if he did, was unable to profit 
by it: vice versa for the Londoner. The profits 
of the transaction went amongst jobbers, mer¬ 
chants, shipowners, and brokers. But if the 
trade in corn were rendered constant and regular, 
the producer and consumer would soon come to 
an understanding of their respective interests, 
and corn be probably delivered in London from 
the Euxine ports at about one-third, or two- 


352 


CORN. 


fifths, of the price which is now obtained on a 
sudden demand. Many direct causes would ope¬ 
rate to make Russian corn cheaper in England. 
In the first place, the portions of bad (often 
impassable) road which obstruct the communi¬ 
cations between the corn districts and the out- 
ports would then be kept in order, whereby the 
cost of land carriage would be diminished : in the 
second place, the jobbing on ’Change at the ports 

_the holding for a rise in the western market— 

would of necessity cease: and, in the third place, 
the increased facility of navigating the Euxine, 
owing to a regular trade, which would allow of 
the favourable season being chosen, and the peri¬ 
odical arrival of vessels in sufficient number, 
would lessen the cost of freight and insurance. 
The same arguments apply stronger to Moldavia 
and Wallachia, because Ithere the land carriage 
from the interior to the outports is trifling, and 
the latter are nearer to the Bosphorus. Russia 
would on the abolition of the English corn laws, 
consequently, become, in all probability, our 
chief market, unless Hungary should develope 
her cereal resources. It is not likely that Ger¬ 
many would be able to compete with Russia and 
the Danubian principalities in producing cheap 
corn, because there is neither the same extent of 
soil in proportion to population, nor serf labour. 


CORN. 


353 


Would Russia, we may ask, reciprocate, and take 
in exchange English manufactures ? We may 
safely predict that she would not do so; because 
necessity would oblige us to have recourse to her. 
Whether our cottons were taken or not, we must 
have bread, and, in the event of our not produ¬ 
cing corn for ourselves, should go to the country 
where it might be had cheapest. We now take 
nearly all Russia's hemp and tallow, and, for 
a like reason, our want of another market, she 
laughs at reciprocity. She takes no more from 
us than she can avoid doing: she restricts the 
importation of English manufactures by extra¬ 
vagant duties. 

Another consideration, and a grave one too, 
is, admitting that we should become dependent 
on Russia for bread, might no occurrence take 
place to deprive 11 s of our accustomed supply ? 
That is not unlikely. I do not allude to the 
chance of a war, or to a caprice of imperial 
power, but to physical agency. Southern Russia 
is liable to famines from various causes. In 1823, 
locusts destroyed the crops in Bessarabia and 
in parts of the Crimea. The government was 
obliged to succour the inhabitants. In 1833-4, 
drought* caused a complete failure of every kind 
of vegetation in New Russia, a territory surpassing 

* Four days of sudden heat (the 4th, 5th, (5th, and 7th of 

A A 


354 


CORN. 


in extent that of Great Britain. No subsistence 
remained for man or beast. The government 
distributed succour to the amount of 6,000,000 
roubles: Odessa and other cities supported 
thousands of their respective poor during nine 
months : nevertheless, the distress was terrible 
and wide-spread. The price of wheat at Odessa 
rose to 80 roubles the tchetwert. In the Crimea, 
one fifth of the Tartar population, and nearly all 
the cattle, perished of hunger. The order of 
trade was reversed : in 1834 a cargo of bonded 
wheat was sent back from England to Odessa. 
1833 and 1834 were years of plenty in England 
and in the west of Europe, and therefore the 
scarcity was unfelt out of Russia. But if by the 
abolition of her corn laws England were always 
dependent on others for half the amount of the 
corn necessary for her consumption, a similar 

May) succeeding a period of drought was the cause of this 
terrible failure. Those four days of ardent sun utterly 
destroyed every particle of vegetation throughout the extent 
of Southern Russia. The peasants unthatched their roofs to 
feed their cattle, but were soon glad to take the wretched 
food for themselves. Two villages near Kerche contained, 
to the author’s knowledge, before the famine, 240 families 
and 9000 head of cattle: at the end of two years, 110 fami¬ 
lies remained and two cows. No part of Southern Russia 
had entirely recovered in 1839 from the effects of this visi¬ 
tation : the cattle were still suffering from disease in con¬ 
sequence. 


CORN. 


355 


disaster in Russia would re-act on her. The 
crops in the Polish provinces, which in ordinary 
years go to the outports, would then be consumed 
by Russians: we know that no despotic sovereign 
dares allow corn to be exported for the benefit of 
trade while his own people are in want. 

It should be borne in mind that one certain 
resource which England now has, on a failure 
of crops, would no longer exist, viz. the bonded 
wheat, since merchants only bond wheat as a 
speculation for a simultaneous rise in price and 
decline in dutv, which would cease were the 
trade open. As things are, a scarcity in the 
east and one in the west are never cotempo- 
raneous ; but if the scarcity in England were to 
be rendered everlasting by the non-protection of 
native agriculture, the two must occur together. 
The result might be very distressing, for if su¬ 
perior cheapness of production gave Russia the 
monopoly of supplying England, it is not pro¬ 
bable that either Germany or America would be 
prepared to supply a great deficiency. Every 
year renders the above considerations of more 
importance on account of the increasing popula¬ 
tion of New Russia. There are also other parts 
of Russia which occasion an unusual drain at 
times on the corn districts. The province of 
Moscow produces on the average under 3,000,000 

a a 2 


35G 


CORN. 


tchetwerts of wheat, while its consumption 
exceeds 4,000,000 tchetwerts. In 1828, the 
harvest in that province nearly failed. As 
I have before observed, the coincidence of a 
scanty harvest in England with a failure of 
crops in an extensive district of Russia has not 
yet occurred, and therefore the influence which 
such might have on us has been unnoticed. 
Some persons may think lightly of this, and say 
that all the world will be our granary. They 
should consider that, if one country were en¬ 
abled to furnish cheaper corn on the average 
than others, that country would necessarily have 
the monopoly, and no other would be prepared 
to supply a deficiency which might occur there. 
At present, all the world is our granary , for 
the simple reason that when an extraordinary 
demand arises in England (about once in twenty 
years) all the corn-exporting countries stand 
pretty much on an equality : the higher pi ices 
in contiguous parts being compensated by the 
freight from distant ports, which is always 
doubled and sometimes trebled on such occa¬ 
sions, owing partly to the relative want of ship¬ 
ping, and partly to the necessity of carrying on 
the trade in winter, which would not be the case 
were the merchants enabled to calculate on a 
regular demand year after year. 


COUNT VVOllONZOW. 


357 


The prosperity of Odessa in the spring of 
1839 compensated, in some measure, by the 
gaiety it occasioned, for the absence of Count 
Woronzow, the governor-general of New Russia, 
as well as its distinguished ornament and patron. 
I heard much of his Excellency, but always in 
his favour. All opinions concurred in setting 
him down as a gentleman , which is more signifi¬ 
cant in Russia perhaps than elsewhere. Liberal 
in his ways, he expended his large fortune in 
supporting the dignity of his station, and in im¬ 
proving the country entrusted to his care. He 
gave his salary to the clerks in his office. 
Liberal in his sentiments, he raised the mer¬ 
cantile body in his government in self-estima¬ 
tion, and lessened the sense of their inferiority 
of caste under a military system. The example 
and rule of two such men as the Due de Riche¬ 
lieu and Count Woronzow, have induced a feeling 
in New Russia rather at variance with orthodox 
opinions. On this account it is said that the 
Emperor, when he visited Odessa in 1837, took 
care to let the inhabitants notice that the Count 
had a master. The Count received his Sovereign 
on that occasion in a princely manner, and his 
hospitality to the Court at his house in the 
Crimea, cost him 20,000/. Count Woronzow’s 
house at Odessa indicates the man: it is perhaps 


358 


HOUSE. 


one of the greatest curiosities in Russia, con¬ 
sidering where it is, by the margin of the bleak 
Euxine, on a steppe which forty years ago was 
inhabited by nomade Tartars, whose ideas of 
comfort went scarcely beyond a tent. It is a 
perfect English country house, in the first style 
of elegance and arrangement, with greenhouse 
and conservatory. It stands on the brow of a 
cliff overlooking the bay, on the site of an old 
Turkish battery, the guns of which remained 
there till 1812. There are several fine pictures 
in the apartments, particularly one of the Em¬ 
peror Alexander by Lawrence. The furniture 
is remarkable : the doors of one of the rooms 
came from St. Michael’s palace, where the 
Emperor Paul was killed, and there are several 
rare articles purchased at the Duke of York s 
sale. There is an extensive library of modern 
works, principally French and English. I re¬ 
marked also a splendid urn of Crimean marble, 
and the vase given to the Count by the Russian 
army of occupation in France. 

When the army quitted France, the officers 
were indebted to the amount of 40,000/., and 
unable to pay. The commander-in-chief, Count 
Woronzow, ordered the sum to be paid from the 
military chest. The Emperor Alexander did not 
like this item in the account, and expressed his 


SERFS. 


359 


displeasure at it. But the Count observed that 
it was better for the government to pay 40,000Z. 
than that the credit of the Russian name should 
suffer; at the same time offering to reimburse the 
sum if the Emperor was not satisfied. Count 
Woronzow was able to do this, being one of the 
large proprietors of Russia. Including his wife’s 
property he has about 70,000 serfs, and each serf 
is worth on the average from eight to ten roubles 
a year. He expected a large addition to his for¬ 
tune from his mother-in-law, the Countess Brai- 
nitska, who died lately, in 1839, leaving 105,000 
serfs, and nearly 60,000,000 roubles in money, 
the fruits of a long life of economy. Her son, 
Count Brainitsky, has inherited this large pro¬ 
perty. Speaking of serfs, the word “ souls” is 
used, which includes males alone. By the 
Russian law women have no souls, being another 
indication of the Asiatic sentiments of the Rus¬ 
sians. Count Scheremeteff is, I believe, the 
greatest proprietor after the Emperor; he pos¬ 
sesses 140,000 serfs, among whom he reckons 
several opulent merchants at St. Petersburg!! 
and elsewhere. Some of them have offered him 
large sums for their freedom, but he prefers the 
honour of calling them his serfs. The Count s 
marriage, if what I have heard is true, oilers a 

O 7 

curious trait of Russian manners. The Empress 


SERFS. 


360 

expressed her desire that he would marry one of 
her maids of honour. The Count did not like to 
offend Her Majesty, but at the same time did not 
fancy his destined bride : he endeavoured to get 
out of the dilemma by making an offer of a 
princely settlement on her if she would refuse 
him. The lady, however, preferred being Coun¬ 
tess Scheremeteff, mistress of the finest fortune 
in the empire. 

There are about 20,000,000 serfs in Russia : 
half of them belong to the crown, and are in¬ 
contestably the best off'. The Polish serfs are 
considered the worst off* in the empire. By 
a late ukase the crown peasants are allowed to 
occupy their lands as tenants, with permission 
to acquire property, and bequeath it. The 
Emperor Nicholas has also conferred a benefit 
on the country, by depriving the Latchti of their 
rights of nobility. The Latchti of Poland (as 
in Hungary) were peasant nobility, in other 
words, beggared gentry, with the privileges of 
caste, and were an evil to the country by their 
union of pride and poverty. They are now sub¬ 
ject to all the liabilities of the peasant except that 
Df being sold with the land. 

An amelioration is taking place in the con¬ 
dition of the lower classes of Russia: the power 
oi selling serfs without the land is now decried, 


SERFS. 


361 


though instances still occur of its being done, and 
sometimes under very shameful circumstances. 
Not long ago a friend of mine, a consul at Odessa, 
had, in his capacity of administrator of a deceased 
countryman’s effects, the unpleasant duty of sell¬ 
ing an entire family, separately, to the highest 
bidders. The possession of serfs is very onerous 
to the small proprietors, as they must feed and 
clothe them happen what may, and the aged and 
the helpless are at their charge : they cannot free 
them, because their property consists in serfs, and 
in a thinly peopled country they might find it 
impossible to hire labourers to till their lands. 
A gradual emancipation is, however, going on: 
serfage is rare in the colonies on the southern 
and eastern frontiers, and runaway serfs arriving 
in them from other parts are rarely asked any 
questions, and may remain quietly as settlers if 
their conduct is proper. # This is owing to the 
anxiety of the government to amalgamate Rus¬ 
sians with the wild tribes on the frontiers. The 
example of the German and Bulgarian settlers 


* By an ukase issued in 1838, the government is going 
to colonize 3000 families in the Kabardahs, and along the 
left bank of the Kuban, with the hope of civilizing the 
natives by the contact. The colonists are to consist chiefly 
of soldiers, whose term of service is expired, and who are 
married. The Great Kabardah is the hilly district lying 


362 


MERCHANTS. 


in New Russia is very advantageous to the 
Russian peasants, and will, I imagine, tend to 
introduce a sense of the rights of man among 
the latter. 

A corresponding amelioration is taking place 
in the trading class. By the ukase of 1836, 
a merchant who has been ten years in the first 
guild, or twenty years in the second guild, may, 
on payment of a given sum once for all, obtain 
the rights of citizenship for himself and children. 
He does not acquire all the privileges of nobility, 
such as the right of possessing serfs, but he is 
freed from the liabilities of the peasant, and may 
ride in a carriage and four with long traces. 
Before that vear, the merchant in Russia was 
a citizen only while he paid an annual capitation 
tax: failing to do that, he became reduced to 
the condition of a peasant, liable, himself and 
sons, to the knout and to the conscription. The 
commencement of a middle class in Russia is 
here visible. There was previously no medium 
between the nobles and the peasants—between 


between Mount Elbourouz and the north course of the river 
Terek. Thence the Little Kabardah extends parallel with 
the eastern course of the Terek to the northern extremity of 
Eastern Caucasus. The Kabardahians declared themselves 
vassals of Russia in 1750 ; but only very lately has Russia 
begun to exercise a real influence with them. 


MERCHANTS. 363 

les battans and les battus. This new class will 
tend to relieve the government from the embar¬ 
rassment, felt more every year, caused by the 
difficulty of providing for the sons of the artificial 
nobility, since they may now enter trade without 
derogation and loss of rights. Hitherto public 
employ has been their only resource; and hence 
the incredible number of employes, and their 
beggarly condition. The artificial nobility was 
invented by Peter the Great, deriving imme¬ 
diately from the crown, in order to lower the 
importance of the landed nobles or boyars. 
Having effected the object for which it was 
designed, it is become in its turn a hindrance to 
the government; and is one of the greatest checks 
which exists in Russia to improvement. Except¬ 
ing in name, it has no nobility, having neither 
property nor fixed rights. It is divided into 14 
classes; of which, however, the 11th, l*2th, and 
13th classes are wanting. A foreigner asked 
a Russian why there were so many classes— 
44 Why?” he replied, “ Spain has four classes of 
nobles; and as Russia is three or four times as 
large, she has occasion for 14 classes.” This 
jocular explanation is as good as any other. It 
is an official nobility: clerks, officers, diploma¬ 
tists, ministers, all belong to it; and the rank of 
each, whatever be his calling, is designated by 


364 


HANK. 


a military title. Everybody, with any preten¬ 
sions to move in society, belongs to it; and is 
aggregated to the body under some military 
rank. Hence the vast number of colonels and 
generals in Russia, without any relation to the 
army. At Odessa, when I was there, two phy¬ 
sicians and one apothecary had the rank of 
general; the master of the ceremonies (a maitre 
de ballet ) was a major. Military rank is- given 
indiscriminately in Russia: when the Emperor 
visited Sevastopol, in 1837, he was much pleased 
with Mr. Upton, an English engineer, employed 
on the dry docks,* and made him a full colonel. 
He was led to bestow this mark of his satisfaction 
on Mr.' Upton, in consequence of finding out 
the animus of the hostility against him of some 
Russian employes at Sevastopol, and which had 
nearly caused his removal. The latter disliked 
Mr. Upton, because he refused to make the 
regular perquisites of office. Such an example 
was dangerous. The works at Sevastopol, per¬ 
formed by Mr. Upton, have cost the government 
one-half less than similar works carried on at 

* Five dry docks are constructing at Sevastopol: one for 
first rates, two for second rates, and two for frigates. They 
will be completed in 1842. Great activity is also displayed 
on the fortifications by sea and by land, on a great scale. 
It is estimated that they, will be finished in 1845. 


DEGRADATION. 


365 


the same time by Russian engineers. Rank can 
be taken away as summarily as it is bestowed: 
a general’s epaulettes are torn off his shoulders, 
and he is reduced at once to the condition of 
a peasant or a private soldier; and this liability 
of the noble , to be deprived of even the com¬ 
monest attributes of freedom, or of citizenship, 
justifies me in saying, that Russian nobility is an 

illusion: it has no status , it has no unalienable 

* 

rights, which are absolutely indispensable to 
nobility. Were not this transition of yearly 
occurrence, one would scarcely credit it. A few 
years ago, General TulchminefF, the military 
governor of Sevastopol, was broke, and sentenced 
to serve as a common soldier, because he had 
neglected to inform the government of the ex¬ 
istence of discontent in the garrison : he was sixty 
years old, and died shortly afterwards. When 
the Emperor visited Tiflis, in 1837, he broke 
Prince Dadianoff (the chief of the staff of the 
army of Giorgia, and son-in-law of General 
Rosen, the governor of Giorgia), and sent him 
away to a fortress as a labourer. * General 

* Baron Rosen received the Emperor on full parade 
with his staff, and the garrison under arms. The Emperor, 
who had been jurnished with the necessary evidence, made 
a speech, in which he animadverted on the existing corrup¬ 
tion, and singled out Prince Dadianoff as its principal 


366 


DEGRADATION. 


Rosen was removed from his command shortly 
afterwards. In 1836 (I believe), M. Ishmielneff, 
an imperial privy councillor, was found guilty of 
fraudulent practices in connexion with his office. 
He was arraigned at the public tribunal: and 
there, in open court, his stars and ribbons were 
stripped off; his hair was cut close, and the 
dress of a private soldier put on him. He was 
then led out of court as a prisoner, and sent 
to a regiment, where, however, the rigour of his 
sentence was mitigated through his brother, who 
held a high office, making interest with the 
officers in his behalf. An acquaintance of the 
author witnessed the ceremonial of degrading 
M. Ishmielneff from the condition of privy coun¬ 
cillor to that of a private soldier. 

The case of M. Speransky is a still more re¬ 
markable example of the vicissitude of fortune 
to which men of rank in Russia are exposed. 
This gentleman early distinguished himself in 
the legislative and finance departments. In 1810 
he became a privy councillor, and acted as the 
Emperor Alexander’s private secretary. One 

author. He apostrophised him bitterly, and ordered the 
epaulettes to be torn off his shoulders. This was literally 
done before the whole garrison. The half of the Prince’s 
head was then shaved: he was put into a cart, and sent to 
the fortress of Bubrosk, in Lithuania. 


EXILE. 


367 


day, in the year 1812, he had worked with his 
master as usual, and his master as usual had 
smiled on him. On returning home from the 
palace, suspecting nothing, he was arrested by 
the police, and without any explanation hurried 
of! to a guard-house. A friend, who saw the 
transaction, ran to his house with the news, and 
thus gave his servants time to supply him with 
a fur pelisse and some linen for his journey to 
Siberia. The cause of his disgrace remains a 
mystery to this day. He worked as a peasant 
for several years. He was then made governor 
of the district, and rose in 1819 to be governor- 
general of all Siberia. It is to be remarked that 
the governments in Siberia are punishments in 
a lesser or a greater degree: no honours or salary 
can compensate for a night of several months’ 
duration. His experience of Siberia, in a humble 
capacity, enabled M. Speransky to make great 
improvements, and in two years he organized 
the system of government which is still in force. 
The Emperor Alexander recalled him to St. 
Petersburgh in 1821, and placed him again in 
the privy council; but he was not employed as 
he deserved till the accession of Nicholas, who, 
knowing his merit, reinstated him in the high 
offices which he had held before his exile. His 
latter years were devoted to the improvement of 


368 


EXILE. 


the clergy; # he provided a fund for the establish¬ 
ment of the orphans of clergymen, by giving the 
church for that purpose the monopoly of selling 
the consecrated tapers, used in large quantities 
by the Russian peasants on fete days. M. Spe- 
ransky was created a Count in 1838, and died 
in February 1839, at the age of seventy. Civil 
titles are not coveted in Russia, because they have 
no value beside military rank : the Narishkins, 
for example, one of the noblest families in the 
empire, have no other than military titles. 

An exile in Siberia is dead in law, and has 
no control over his property, which goes to his 
heir, unless ordered to be kept in trust. His wife 
may join him if she pleases, but must share her 
husband’s existence, put on the peasant’s garb, 
make their bread, and wash their linen. I 
believe that the hardships of the life in Siberia 
are often modified, either by direct orders from 
St. Petersburgh, or by a discretionary power 
vested in the Governor. Ladies, I have heard, 
rarely shew this devotion : some brilliant ex¬ 
amples, however, may be cited. The Princess 
Troubetskoi, and, I believe, a Countess Wols- 
konska, followed their husbands to Siberia after 

* M. Speransky was the son of a Russian clergyman. He 
married an English lady, who died a year afterwards, leaving 
a daughter. 


CORRUPTION. 


369 

the last Polish war. Children born of exiles are 
interdicted from leaving Siberia : if allowed to 
depart, they have no claim to the rights of 
noblesse, but are regarded as peasants. 

An inhabitant of western Europe, therefore, 
when moving in Russian society, cannot help 
regarding with pity the men before him, though 
exulting in the title of Excellency and covered 
with stars and crosses ; yet if he expresses com¬ 
miseration at the metamorphosis to which they 
are exposed, he is told that all is as it ought to 
be. I do not mean to say that in their hearts 
they kiss the hand which abases them : I believe 
that a deep feeling of discontent is rankling in 
the bosoms of the official Russian nobility, not¬ 
withstanding the demoralization which has been 
effected by a system of largess and terror acting 
and re-acting on their minds; but—and this is 
a remarkable fact—the Russians themselves tell 
you that this (in our estimation brutal) exercise 
of power is necessary to the welfare of the state 
as at present constituted ; that corruption is so 
widely spread and deep rooted, and practised so 
shamelessly, that nothing but the most striking 
severity keeps it under. And it is admitted 
that in nine cases out of ten the general or 
colonel thus degraded and treated like a felon 
deserves his fate. Corruption has a terrible swing 


370 SECRET POLICE. 

in Russia, and there is no telling the length it 
would go under a weak or an indolent Emperor, 
especially in the distant provinces, where the 
governors are kings. The personal activity of 
the Emperor Nicholas, which makes him, as it 
were, ubiquitous in his vast empire, and the 
moral courage which enables him to level the 
highest offenders, are the safeguard of Russia, 
at present; and the absolute necessity for such 
shews us on what weak foundations the autocratic 
power rests—on one man’s talents and energy. 
At first we are surprised at the correctness of 
the information which the Emperor receives, 
and the exactitude with which he goes to the 
source of an evil; we hardly imagine how he 
arrives at the truth of acts of tyranny and 
corruption in provinces two or three thousand 
miles away from the seat of government, 
and is enabled unerringly to punish the trans¬ 
gressors. The “secret police” explains the 
enigma. It is a substitute for the press, and 
though like the press it occasionally injures the 
innocent, its avowed avocation is to denounce 
injustice and expose venality. The individuals 
composing it are known, and are received 
everywhere. They are especially dreaded by 
governors. Their power of denunciation is 
unlimited; at the same time, as they may de- 


SECRET POLICE. 371 

nounce eacli other, they are careful not to make 
false accusations. The office of their chief 
(Count Benkendorff) at St. Petersburgh is like 
the “lion’s mouth.” I entered Russia with a 
saintly horror of the secret police, believing it to 
be an instrument in the hand of power to oppress 
the weak, but a few disclosures changed my 
opinion, and that of many others with whom I 
conversed. The venality of the employes is 
evident to everybody : the distance of the fron¬ 
tier provinces is calculated to give impunity to 
arbitrary governors ; nevertheless, in spite of the 
cohesive principle of roguery, and of distance, 
official corruption and acts of injustice become 
known by means of the “secret police.” Without 
it there would be no sort of check. Proprietors 
are bound to take care of their serfs; if there 
is a scarcity of corn in the land, the serfs’ wants 
must be provided for before any can be sold : 
any infraction of this rule would call down on 
the remiss proprietor the indignation of the 
Emperor, and he is made acquainted with it 
through the “ secret police.” The following 
case, which occurred at Odessa a few years ago, 
is illustrative of the position and power of the 
secret police. The governor, M. Lofschine, 
directed an unjust demand to be made on 
M. Baguer, a Spanish merchant, on account of 

b b 2 


372 


SECRET POLICE. 


some mercantile transaction, and gave orders to 
intimidate him by threats of arrest if he declined 
payment. The city police accordingly com¬ 
menced proceedings in an irritating manner, 
and watched M. Baguer s house, as if he weie 
a criminal. Not knowing the governor s shaie 
in the transaction, Baguer went to him and 
complained of the unwarrantable conduct of the 
police. M. Lofschine s language shewed him 
his enemy. He then sought advice ol some 
friends. “ Resist the oppression ” was the word 
in the mouth of everybody; but how to resist 
was the difficulty. In a state of suspense, M. 
Baguer returned towards his hbrne, and on the 
way met Colonel Locatelli, the chief of the 
“ secret police.” As a pis alter, he resolved to 
tell him the whole story, under the idea that he 
could not put himself in a worse position. The 
colonel listened patiently, said nothing, and 
left Baguer in doubt whether he had done a 
wise or a foolish thing. Proceedings on the 
part of the police were stayed ; and in a few 
weeks the governor received a despatch from St. 
Petersburo;h, in which the affair was commented 
on as most unjustifiable, and he was directed to 
give full satisfaction to M. Baguer. Baguer 
declared that nothing short of an apology from 
M. Lofschine would satisfy him. This, however, 


SECRET POLICE. 


373 


could not be granted: he was given to under¬ 
stand that he could not lower the governor, hut 
he might select anybody else. He then demanded 
that the police-officers employed by the governor 
should be instructed to wait on him and make 
an apology in the presence of his friends, in 
order that the reparation might be as public 
as the insult. This being agreed to, and M. 
Baguer having invited all his friends, including 
the consuls, a numerous body assembled at his 
house on a given day, waiting the arrival of the 
officers. These gentlemen by no means liking 
the exposure, had called early in the morning, 
in the hope of making the amende in private, but 
orders had been issued not to admit them till 
the appointed hour. At one o'clock accord- 
ingly they came again. There were three of 
them dressed in full uniform. They advanced 
into the middle of the room. One of them 
acted as spokesman for the party ; but instead 
of apologizing, he began to expostulate and 
explain. One of the consuls interrupted him 
by saying that the company present were met to 
hear an apology and not to discuss the question. 
The Russian still hesitated, on which one of 
his companions stepped forward, and having 
declared his regret, and asked if M. Baguer was 
satisfied, darted out of the room. The third 


374 


SECRET POLICE. 


man followed his example and left the original 
speaker alone. “Now, gentlemen,” he said, 
“ I will tell you all,” and went on to say that 
the whole affair was highly improper, but that 
he was only the instrument of M.Lofschine, and 
he appealed to their sense of justice if it were not 
a shame to make him suffer for the governor s * 
fault. This explanation was received with ap¬ 
plause, and he was invited to join the breakfast 
prepared for the occasion. 

No one, on reflection, can be surprised at such 
being the practice of the secret police in Russia, 
for it is evidently the interest of a despotic 
government to check the abuses of its employes , 
and to teach the people to look to the crown for 
protection; but as the body is a mere instrument 
in the hands of power, and works efficaciously, 
whatever be the direction given to it, its influ¬ 
ence is fearfully exercised in cases of undefined 
offences termed political, and then is invested 
by the imagination with all that is loathsome. 

* M. Lofschine who was reported to have profited largely 
by his government of Odessa, was afterwards nominated to a 
government in Siberia, in other words, honourably banished. 
He contrived to fall from his carriage on the way to his new 
post. The injury which he received gained him a respite, 
and through the interest of Count Woronzow he afterwards 
obtained leave to travel in Italy for his health. 


SECRET POLICE. 


375 


Its movements then are conducted with mys¬ 
terious secrecy—subornation and espionage en¬ 
compass the suspected,—and its acts are terrific 
and prompt. The victim rarely sees the hand 
which strikes him till the blow is struck. Just 
before my arrival at Odessa, a highly respected 
Polish merchant, M. Malordetzky, was suddenly 
torn from his family and business, and sent to 
the prisons of Kief, which were full of sus¬ 
pected Poles awaiting the decision of a military 
commission sitting in that city.* In the course 
of the year 1838 above one hundred Polish fami¬ 
lies were dragged from their homes, on suspicion, 
and sent to reside in distant towns under surveil¬ 
lance . This severity was occasioned by the visit 
to Poland of the notorious Konarsky, the agent 
of the propagandists at Paris ; every individual 
he spoke to, or even looked at, might be said to 
have been compromised more or less. Konarsky 
was taken up in December 1838, and hanged. 

The continued journeys of the Emperors Alex¬ 
ander and Nicholas materially contributed to 
maintain the efficiency of the ‘‘secret police,” 

* Four gentlemen were condemned to die, and in March 
1839, were led to the scaffold at Kief, with ropes round their 
necks. Their lives were spared, and they were sent to Siberia 
instead. Faites moi grace de votre grace , I would have said 
in their place, observed a Polish lady of my acquaintance. 


CIRCASSIANS. 


376 

and prevented, by the probability of their appear¬ 
ance in any quarter, collusion between its chiefs 
and the distant governors. Too much praise 
cannot be given to these monarchs for their un¬ 
wearied endeavours to make themselves person¬ 
ally acquainted with the state of things in all 
parts of their vast empire. Humanity has bene¬ 
fited thereby in various instances ; in proof of 
which I may mention the two following cases 
relating to opposite parts of Russia. Convicts 
used to be branded on the forehead, and have 
their nostrils slit. Alexander, in his Siberian 
tour, was shocked at the appearance of these 
unfortunate people, and commanded that the 
practice of branding and mutilation should cease. 
When the Emperor Nicholas visited New Russia 
in 1837, he prolonged his journey to Ghelindjik 
on the coast of Abasia, where General Williami- 
nofTs army was encamped, and there seeing 
with his own eyes the cruel consequences, in the 
sufferings of his soldiers, and the impolicy of the 
war of extermination which had been projected 
against the Abasians, to which his attention had 
also been drawn by an able memoir of M. Scassi # 

* M. Scassi (a Genoese) began to trade with the Circas¬ 
sians in 1813, under the auspices of the Due de Richelieu. 
He opened establishments at Ghelindjik, Pockad and Sou- 
koom Kaleh, and secured the friendship of the native chiefs. 


CIRCASSIANS. 377 

to Count Nesselrode, he ordered a discontinu¬ 
ance of it, and a recurrence to milder measures. 
Measures thenceforward against the Circassians 
were, I have understood, to be confined princi¬ 
pally to a strict blockade, to corruption, and to 
endeavours to introduce commerce among them 
from the various military posts, according to the 
conciliatory system, which was beginning to be 
successful when the war party in the cabinet of 
St. Petersburgh overruled it, as being unworthy 
of the majesty of Russia. That party, at the 
head of which was Prince Menzikof, elated by 
the peace of Adrianople, boasted that they would, 
in six months, carry fire and sword into every 
fastness of Circassia. But several years of failure 
and heavy loss have undeceived them ; while the 
enormities of some of the Russian officers, par¬ 
ticularly of a General Zass, who commanded a 
moveable corps on the Kuban, have united the 
Circassians firmly together. General Zass’s ex¬ 
cesses have done great injury to the Russian cause. 

From 1820 to 1829 the trade flourished, and the natives 
were becoming well-disposed towards the Russians. About 
800,000 lbs. of salt had been imported into Circassia from 
Russia, and moroccos and cottons were beginning to be intro¬ 
duced, when the impolitic measure of subduing the Circas¬ 
sians by force was adopted, after the peace of Adrianople. 
Commercial intercourse then ceased. 


378 


CIRCASSIANS. 


The following trait related of him is novel. He 
caused a Circassian chief who had fallen into his 
hands, to be bound to a tree under which a mine 
of powder was laid. The prisoner’s followers, 
seeing no Russians on the spot, came in the 
night to release him, when the train was fired, 
and all—prisoner, friends and tree—were blown 
up. I regret to say, that I heard some Russians at 
Odessa term this a clever feat, instead of stig¬ 
matizing it as a barbarous act; becoming a red 
Indian perhaps, but rather unworthy of a Russian 
officer. The blockade of Abasia is twofold : by 
a line of forts extending along the course of the 
Kuban from the high road between Mosdok and 
Tiflis to the sea; and by another line along the 
coast commanding all the accessible points. There 
is, besides, an army ready to take advantage of 
circumstances, commanded, since the death of 
General Williaminoff in 1838, by General Riev- 
sky, who got out of disgrace in 1837 by a memoir 
on the mode of reducing the Abasians. 

The Russian Czars have always claimed sove¬ 
reignty over the Circassians, but from what 
motive it is difficult to say, seeing that the 
history of the latter has been one either of in¬ 
dependence or of nominal vassalage to Persia 
or Turkey. In the account of the embassy of 
Leon Sapieha, chancellor of Lithuania, in 1600, 


CIRCASSIANS. 


379 


from Sigismond, king of Poland, to the Czar 
Boris Fcedorovitch, the Czar’s titles are thus 
enumerated: Boris Fcedorovitch, by the grace of 
God, Lord and Autocrat of all the Russias, of 
Vlodomir, of Moscow, of Novogorod, of Pskof; 
Grand Duke of Smolensk, of Regan, of Volotky, 
of Rjef, of Beloi, of Rostof, of Yaroslaf, of Be- 
loozero, of Polotsk, of Oudor, of Obdor, of Sever; 
hereditary Ruler of Livonia; Czar of Kasan, of 
Siberia, and of Astrakhan ; Lord and Dominator 
of the Czars of Georgia, of the Kabardaks, and 
of Circassia. 

Under the name of Circassians (Tcherkesses), 
the inhabitants of all the Caucasian districts 
between the Euxine and the Caspian are gene¬ 
rally comprised; but they are divided into 
various peoples of different denominations ; as 
Tchouvasses, Duschians, Lahzians, Abasians, etc. 
The eastern Caucasus, after the fall of the 
Caliphate to which it had been tributary, long 
formed the natural barrier between the Persian 
and Muscovite empires; and although nominally 
subject to Persia, and in part to Turkey, its in¬ 
habitants maintained their independence pretty 
well, owing to the unrivalled strength of their 
position, which had been equally appreciated by 
the Romans, the Persians, and the Colchians, 
and which diverted the torrent of Scythian inva- 


380 


CIRCASSIANS. 


sion (issuing from the steppes between the Don 
and China) from Asia to Europe. The pass of 
Dariel (in the middle of the Russian military 
road from Mosdok to Tiflis), a tremendous defile, 
was and is the key of the eastern Caucasus—the 
gate from Russia to Persia. The modern Persian 
kings neglected to secure it. The pass is a 
complete Thermopylae, and may, I have heard, 
be defended by 300 men against any force. The 
Persian monarchs frequently attacked the eastern 
Caucasians, without being able to subdue them; 
till at length it became a proverb in Persia, 
“ When a king is too happy, let him attack 
Caucasus.” In allusion to their defeats in that 
quarter, the Persians used to call the eastern 
Caucasus Iran Kharab , Persia’s evil. The cele¬ 
brated Nadir Schah tried his fortune there also: 
in 1741, he marched with 40,000 men into 
Schirvan, thence directed his steps against the 
Lesghians, by whom the “ conqueror of India” 
was defeated. Alarmed, however, at the power 
of Persia under Nadir Schah, the Lesghians and 
other tribes of the eastern Caucasus implored 
the supremacy of Russia, which was readily 
granted; and from that time began the war, 
carried on openly or covertly ever since, between 
the Russians and the Circassians. The latter 
soon perceived the fault they had committed: 


CIRCASSIANS. 


381 


military roads, chains of fortified posts, and 
Russian colonies in the plains, gradually circum¬ 
scribed their territory—compelling the submis¬ 
sion of the weak, and hemming in the strong in 
their mountains. The Lesghians* are the most 
prominent among the latter, and indeed form 
the only tribe in eastern Caucasus which gives 
Russia any uneasiness. After nearly a century 
of guerilla warfare, they are still sufficiently 
powerful to oblige Russia to maintain an army 
in Georgia for the protection of the inhabitants; 
and in the autumn of 1838, a body, 12,000 
strong, ravaged the country nearly to the gates 
of Tiflis. 

The Abasians are the foes of Russia in western 
Caucasus, and are the people in whom so lively 
an interest has been taken the last few years, 
through the enterprising endeavours in their 
behalf of Mr. Urquhart and others, but which 
interest, I may observe, not having extended 

* The Lesghian country is comprised between the Terek, 
the Kour, and the Caspian: it is separated from Kaketia 
(one of the three provinces of Giorgia) by the Alazan, a small 
river which runs into the Kour. The Lesghians lead a life 
of military indolence: their lands are tilled by the Ingalos, 
who are to their masters what the helots were to the Spar¬ 
tans. The Ingalos are a tribe of Giorgians who would not 
abandon their country to avoid the Lesghians. 


382 


CIRCASSIANS. 


farther than words, has caused Russia to re¬ 
double her efforts to reduce them. Russia has 
some right to coerce the Lesghians if she can, 
for they solicited her supremacy in their hour of 
need, but she has no excuse for attempting to 
deprive the Abasians of their liberty, beyond 
what state policy may furnish; and state policy 
in this case naturally objects to leave a nucleus 
of independence in the Caucasus. Excepting 
under this point of view, the Abasians are not 
situated so as to cause Russia much uneasiness : 
they are not, like the Lesghians, in the great 
track of communication between Europe and 
Asia. They inhabit the mountainous district 
between the Kouban* on the north-east, the 
Euxine on the west, and Mingrelia and Im- 
meritia on the south, having been settled there 
from all antiquity. When subject to the princes 
of Georgia they embraced Christianity, which 
has since disappeared under the efforts of the 
Porte in favour of Islamism. The Turks effected 
partial conquests on the sea-coast; but the 
natives rose in 1771, and recovered their freedom 
in a battle at Soudjouk Kaleh, which place, 

* The Kouban is the Hypanis of Herodotus and of Strabo, 
and the Vardannes of Ptolomy. It receives thirteen tribu¬ 
tary rivulets in its course (200 miles). Its source is at the 
north foot of Mount Elbourouz. 


CIRCASSIANS. 


383 


however, remained in the hands of the Porte, 
and was ceded to Russia, together with Anapa, 
at the peace of Adrianople. More is known of 
the Abasians of the present day than of the rest 
of the Circassians on account of the traffic 
carried on with them from 1810 to 1829, and of 
the residence lately amongst them of Messrs. 
Bell and Longworth. I believe that the chief 
obstacle to effecting the permanent indepen¬ 
dence of the Abasians lies in their want of any 
stronger feeling of nationality and union than 
that which is prompted by the presence of 
danger. Mr. Urquhart endeavoured to arouse 
a nobler sentiment by imagining a national flag 
for them, with stars and arrows for emblems; 
but the chief to whom he entrusted the banner, 
converted it, after a while, into shalivar (trousers) 
for his wife. 


384 


GOVERNOR. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


GOVERNOR- ROBBERY- POLICE-DEMORALIZATION BRI¬ 
GANDAGE-CONSULS-RUSSIAN ARMY-RUSSIAN GENERALS 

-KHIVA-BOKHARA-COMMERCE WITH CENTRAL ASIA. 

T found General Fcederof acting as governor- 
general of southern Russia, in the absence of 
Count Woronzow in England. He had held, a 
few years earlier, no higher rank than that of 
police-master at Nicolaef. Count Tolstoy, the 
governor of Odessa, was therefore much annoyed 
at having him placed over his head, and made 
no secret of the mortification which his pride 
had received. Many amusing scenes occurred 
in consequence. I need not relate them, it being 
hardly worth while to add examples to the 
many which we have, in order to shew how the 
base infirmities of our nature are often brought 
into relief by high situations in public life. But 
as the Count, though a gentlemanly man and 
of a noble family, was solely devoted to field- 
sports, he was less fit to govern New Russia 


ODESSA. 


385 


than General Feeder of, who had distinguished 
himself by thief-taking in the towns, and by 
brigand-hunting in the country. He had en¬ 
tirely cleared Bessarabia of banditti which had 
long infested it, and thereby brought himself 
into notice and gained the patronage of Count 
Woronzow. Such qualifications may not appear 
to my English reader exactly of a nature to 
qualify a man for the post of governor-gene¬ 
ral, but, nevertheless, are not to be despised 
in a country where the eighth commandment 
appears to be deprived of the negative particle. 
This is an assertion of so grave a nature, 
that I would not have ventured to make it 
had I not had abundant ocular proof of its 
correctness, amply confirmed, moreover, by the 
testimony of everybody, rich and poor, natives 
and foreigners, at Odessa. The propensity 
amounts to a national disease. It is easily ex¬ 
plained. The (artificial) nobility of the country 
are poor and extravagant ; they must make 
by their situations, or, in plain English, rob 
the public. Long habit has made their minds 
easy on the subject, and their inferiors have 
naturally taken the tone from their masters. 
The robbery at Odessa, while I was there, was 
not only very remarkable, but highly ludi¬ 
crous, from the absolute want of respect for any 


c c 


386 


ODESSA. 


persons or things. As is always the case, 
where a whole community is exposed to the 
same evil, the theft of the night was the joke 
of the next morning. Nothing was safe. Sacks 
of wheat were carried away from the magazines 
in carts; rouleaus of notes were stolen from 
counting-houses; baskets of linen were ab¬ 
stracted from bed-rooms; garden palings were 
pulled down for firewood; larders were emptied 
of their contents; thermometers were removed 
from windows; and even children were stolen. 
If you dined in a strange house, you were not 
surprised to find your cloak missing from the 
hall. These were not isolated cases: they were 
of daily and nightly occurrence. The servants 
made no scruple of robbing their masters, and 
were not discharged, simply because, in all pro¬ 
bability, others of the same description would 
have replaced them. In one of the wealthiest 
establishments at Odessa, where I dined once 
or twice, the lady of the house, when the com¬ 
pany went to the dining-room, used to lock the 
saloon, in order that nothing might be purloined 
while they were at dinner. What appears extra¬ 
ordinary is, that no sense of shame is excited, 
even in respectable persons, by a suspicion of 
doing that which in another country could not 
enter the imagination. Madame-, at Odessa, 



ODESSA. 


38 ? 


one day received a morning visit from Prince 

-. After his highness had taken leave, she 

missed a jewelled watch from the table. She 
suspected her visiter of having taken it away; 
and on his coming again, in a day or two, taxed 
him with the (in our estimation) felony. The 
Prince was surprised at the charge, but in no way 
scandalized. He protested his innocence. The 
intercourse continued as before, although the 
lady continued of her first opinion till the watch 
was found three months afterwards on a labourer, 
who confessed having stolen it. Two things 
strike an Englishman as remarkable in this 
transaction: first, that a lady could suspect a 
gentleman of stealing, and tell him so; secondly, 
that a gentleman could have such a suspicion 
entertained of him and feel comfortable. It is 
a proof, among many others, of the depth of 
demoralization in some portions of Russia. The 
police either cannot or will not check the univer¬ 
sal practice of making little or no distinction 
between meum and tuum ; or, I should say rather, 
the inhabitants are averse from having much to do 
with the police. Sensible, quiet people in Russia 
appear to shun proceedings with the police as 
much as law is avoided by some individuals in 
England. They say that they only give them¬ 
selves a deal of vexation,—are taken from their 

cc 2 



388 


ODESSA. 


business, and tormented with queries and sus 
picions, and in the end gain nothing ; for when 
stolen property is recovered, it is rarely, it ever, 
restored to the owner. That is a police perqui¬ 
site. Thieving has thus a fair field and no dis¬ 
favour in New Russia. ‘‘The first loss is the 
least ” seemed to be the axiom at Odessa : youi 
cloak or watch is stolen ; why add to the loss 
the trouble of a prosecution, and the chicanery 
of the police. An opportunity may thus be taken 
to annoy you. The fear of having any suspicion 
entertained of them by the authorities, makes men 
in Russia fearful of doing even a good action, 
which might give the police the right to put awk¬ 
ward queries to them. Monsieur , a foreign 
physician established at Odessa, speaking of this 
feeling before a large party, exemplified it by 
relating to us his horror one day, on going into 
his stable, to find his servant suspended by the 
neck to a beam. The man, who had hanged him¬ 
self, was, by the doctor’s account, still struggling, 
and would have revived had he been then cut 
down ; but his master, instead of doing so, sent 
information of what had occurred to the police 
office, in order that every thing might be en regie. 
When the police officers arrived the unfortunate 
man was dead; but his master had done his duty 
like a good denizen of the Russian empire. 1 



ODESSA. 


389 


was less surprised at this tale, degrading as 
it was, than at the doctor’s bonhomie in relating 
it—his utter insensibility to the reproach of his 
conduct, the more extraordinary in one of his 
profession. At the same time it created no sur¬ 
prise among the generality of his auditors, but 
was received as a thing in course. Men’s minds, 
I thought, must be sadly cowed, to allow an idea 
of unpleasant consequences to interfere with the 
natural impulse at such a moment when a fellow 
creature was in the agonies of death, and about 
to appear in the presence of his Maker with the 
crime of self-destruction on him. Byron’s lines 
came to my recollection, in which the assassi¬ 
nation of the commandant at Padua, is described : 

“ I heard a shot—'tvvas eight o’clock scarce past, 
And running out as fast I was able, 

I found the military commandant 
Stretched in the street, and able scarce to pant.” 

“ Poor fellow ! for some reason, surely bad, 

They had slain him with five slugs, and left him there 
To perish on the pavement: so I had 
Him borne into the house, and up the stair, 

And stripped and looked to.” 

The Russian Samaritan would have let the 
commandant lie till the police came—and bleed 
to death in the interval. 


390 


ODESSA. 


My own servant (a Greek of Odessa), a most 
accomplished rascal, named Timoleon, shared 
in the general disposition “to do with others’ 
property as you would with your own. He 
robbed me in a very orthodox, business-like 
manner, taking notes, plate, clothes, and other 
trifles, without being particular. I bore all for 
a while with great philosophy. I did not com¬ 
plain to the police, because I was told that I 
should only increase my loss by a deal of trouble: 

I did not discharge the rogue, because I appre¬ 
hended that a similar genius would replace him, 
when I should have the same scene to re-com- 
mence. My Christian resolution to bear patiently 
was at length, however, disturbed. One day, 
having broken my watch-glass, I sent the watch 
by Timoleon to have a new one fitted ; I was in 
a hurry for it; but after a delay of above a week, 
for which I could not account, and repeated 
inquiries, I ascertained that instead of taking 
my watch to a maker he had sold it to a Jew 
for his own use and profit. The duplicity of this 
transaction upset my equanimity, and I deter¬ 
mined, at all risk of personal inconvenience, to 
have recourse to the police ; and I was further 
induced to take this step in the hope of recover¬ 
ing a ring which I set a great value on, and 
which he had also taken a fancy to. My friends 


ODESSA. 


391 


fully agreed with me in the propriety of punish¬ 
ing the rascal, but laughed at my simplicity in 
expecting that anything would be restored to me. 
I had an idea, however, that the police might be 
inclined to shew me some favour as a stranger; 
and my anticipation proved correct. I waited on 
Colonel Shostak, the police master; and having 
laid my case before him, which he listened 
to with great politeness, had the satisfaction 
of hearing that Timoleon had shewn more 
than usual roguery, and that my forbearance 
in not breaking his head was marvellous. The 
next question was how to get hold of the fellow. 
“ He is a Greek,” observed the colonel, “and 
if he has any suspicion of your proceedings, 
he will elude search, and be off to some village 
in the steppe where we shall never find him.” 
I said that I did not imagine that he thought I 
was come to the end of my tether of forbearance, 
and that he would be in my rooms at three 
o'clock, when I should go home to dress for 
dinner. “That will do,” observed the colonel, 
“we will catch him.” He called one of his men, 
directed him to put on a peasant’s garb, in order 
to avoid observation while going to the hotel, 
and station himself conveniently near my rooms, 
and when Timoleon made his appearance to 
arrest him. Whether, however, it be that man 


392 


ODESSA. 


knows a policeman by instinct or not, the agent 
of’ Colonel Shostak was discovered under his 
disguise by the people of the hotel; but, as they 
universally disliked Timoleon on account of 
the airs of importance which he assumed, the 
secret was kept, and a gradual mustering of the 
servants took place towards the part of the hotel 
where I resided, to see the fun. At three o clock, 
as I had anticipated, Timoleon, not having the 
slightest suspicion of any mishap, entered my 
room with a bow, entertaining, 1 make no doubt, 
a sovereign contempt for my weakness respecting 
his deeds. He demurely asked my orders; where¬ 
upon, putting on a look of becoming solemnity, 

I informed him that he was no longer my servant, 
and referred him to the apparent peasant, who 
had followed him in unnoticed, and who, laying 
his hand on his shoulder, explained to the asto¬ 
nished Greek the altered position in which he 
stood. At that moment a twinge of compunction 
affected me. I had never caused the arrest of 
an individual in my life : I felt sorry for what I 
had done, and had the fellow, even at the last 
hour, expressed any contrition, I would have let 
him off. But his conduct soon stifled the rising 
feeling in his behalf: he put a bold face on the 
matter, swore by all the saints in his calendar 
that he had never taken the value of a kopeck 


ODESSA. 


393 


from me, and declared that I was a maligner. 
A chorus of indignation from the domestics of 
the hotel broke out at this impudent assertion. 
He then changed his tactics, and doggedly de¬ 
manded of the policeman his authority for arrest¬ 
ing him, adding that he was a Greek and would 
not be treated like a serf, and threatening us all 
with the wrath of the Hellenic government. The 
astonished air of the policeman (we must bear in 
mind where the scene lay) at being asked for 
his authority may be conceived : he looked as if 
he thought the Greek mad. The allusion to the 
protection of the Greek government amused me 
by bringing to my mind the title given to Otho 
by the English sailors in the Levant, who were 
wont to call him the King of the Klephtes. 
Finally, Timoleon yielded to his destiny: he 
cursed his folly at having fallen into the trap, 
and marched off to the police office. There his 
tone was speedily altered. The commandant pre¬ 
luded a summary interrogatory by giving him a 
couple of boxes on the ear, in order to shew him 
that he had no longer to deal with an easy-going 
Briton, and then by some wholesome threats 
extracted the whole truth. Timoleon confessed 
his guilt. Within three hours all the articles 
were recovered, excepting the money; and, to 
the astonishment of my friends, restored to me 


394 


BRIGANDS. 


next clay, with a polite note from Colonel Shos- 
tak, expressive of his satisfaction in having been 
able to serve me so effectually. I therefore 
have no reason to complain of the police in 
Russia : though it is fair to add that everybody 
at Odessa said that my case was an exception to 
the rule. Timoleon was sent to prison to repent 
for three months. He was the best specimen of 
a rogue I ever saw: good-looking, well-man¬ 
nered, and crafty, with a tolerable education. 
He would have made his fortune as a speculator 
in a great capital, where vice may go unmasked 
and be unheeded, provided a few conventional 
rules are observed. 

Brigandage, in the provinces of Russia, is also 
a more important and profession-like affair than 
is usually supposed. Numerous bands keep 
together for years without being dispersed. 
Their motto being “ guerre aux riches , paix aux 
pauvres ,” the peasants harbour them as friends, 
and often give them timely notice of police 
movements. A formidable banditti, three or 
four hundred strong, was perambulating the 
governments of Smolensk and Oral while I was 
,at Odessa, headed by one Trishcof, a,man of fun 
and capacity, as would appear by the following 
trait, which reached us by private letters. Such 
things, it may be observed, never find their way 


BRIGANDS. 


395 


into the public journals, if such a one as I saw 
at Odessa deserved the name, and which was 
only remarkable for sedulously extracting from 
the French papers any remarks which there 
might be in them against England. Trishcof 
was a Captain Rock in his tactics: his plan was 
to send to a wealthy individual and desire him 
to have a sum of money ready at a given hour, 

or -. His requests had been complied with 

in several instances; but a certain proprietor 
whom he thus distinguished in January 1839, 
by a hint to have 20,000 roubles ready on the 
following evening, when Trishcof would send for 
them, determined to refuse compliance. After 
a few hours of anxious deliberation, he came to 
the resolution of sending to the nearest military 
station for assistance. The next morning he 
was delighted at seeing a detachment of infantry 
approaching his house. He received them with 
open arms, and treated the party most hospitably, 
expressing his sense of the promptitude with 
which the general commandant had complied 
with his request. Such a paternal government! 
After a good breakfast, the officer of the party 
requested the proprietor to inform him of his 
case, and to point out in what way he could 
best serve him, as his orders w^ere to abide by 
his directions. The proprietor replied, that as 



RUSSIAN 


lie had informed the general, Trishcof was 
coming that evening for 20,000 roubles, and 
he wished the officer to dispose his men, so that 
the brigand might be surprised. The officer 
asked if the money was ready. “ Yes,” was the 
answer. “ In that case you have no occasion to 
wait till evening,” continued the officer, smiling 
and throwing open his coat: “ I am Trishcof, 
and will take the money now.” This trait ot 
the brigand’s address created much amusement 
at Moscow, at the expense of the “ country 
gentleman.” 

Notorious brigands, when captured, are se¬ 
verely knouted, and, if they survive, sent to the 
mines in Siberia. 

Besides Generals Fcederof and Tolstoy, two 
other general officers had their head-quarters 
at Odessa; Lieutenant-general Leckner, the in¬ 
spector-general of the fortresses on the Danube, 
and General Count de Witte, the commander in 
chief of the colonized cavalrv. General Leckner 

J 

was one of the most liberal and right-minded 
Russians I conversed with, which perhaps he 
owed in part to his wife, an elegant, sensible 
Swiss lady. His first wife, who was remarkable 
for her beauty, became afterwards Baroness 
Brunow. I met them occasionally at the house 
of the English consul, Mr. Yeames, which was, 


GENERALS. 


397 


I may observe, the focus for the intellect and 
merit of Odessa. Every man with a claim to 
talent was to be met with in that house. Ideas 
might be refreshed there, and new ones picked 
up. An Englishman could not but feel proud 
at having his country represented in southern 
Russia by such a man as Mr. Yeames: I for 
one shall not readily forget the agreeable and 
instructive hours which I passed in his and 
his amiable family’s society, and their friendly 
hospitality. Several other members of the con¬ 
sular body were also superior men: M. Challaye 
(the French consul), the Chevalier de Thom 
(the Austrian consul), and M. Baguer (the 
Spanish consul), did honour to their respective 
nations, and were universally esteemed. 

Count de Witte is well known in Europe. I 
rarely met with a more polished gentlemanly 
man, though he is said to have the Asiatic 
faculty, which, however, is more or less com¬ 
mon to all Russians, of ceasing to remember old 
friends should fortune frown upon them. He 
had distinguished himself in 1837 at the grand 
cavalry review of Wosnesensk, which he com¬ 
manded. Fifty thousand cavalry were on the 
ground, besides 120 pieces of horse artillery, 
and two battalions of infantry. This imposing 
display a la Timoar on the shores of the Euxine, 


398 


RUSSIAN 


was for the purpose of impressing Turkey and 
Persia with an idea of Russia’s power—cavalry 
having more effect in those quarters than in¬ 
fantry. Timely showers laid the dust, and con¬ 
sequently the review was brilliant. A town was 
improvised for the occasion with a theatre and a 
spacious ball-room. The Emperor and Empress 
were agreeably surprised, on entering the palace 
erected for them, to find their apartments 
furnished exactly like their apartments at St. 
Petersburgh. The expenses of the entertain¬ 
ments to the Court at Wosnesensk were de¬ 
frayed by a subscription among the officers of 
the colonized cavalry in Count de Witte’s name. 
The Emperor gave the Count 300,000 roubles 
(13,000/.) by way of reimbursement. The Em¬ 
peror Nicholas is said to be very generous to the 
superior officers of the army and navy, never 
hesitating to give them gratifications when ex¬ 
pensive habits bring them into difficulties. The 
condition of the officers in general has been 
materially improved in the present reign. * 

* In addition to their pay, officers receive table money in 
the following proportions :— 

A lieut.-general receives 6000 roubles a-year. 

A major-general 4000 

A colonel . . . 3000 


OFFICERS. 


399 


Their pay was augmented in 1834, and again 
in January 1839. The two augmentations 
have nearly doubled the pay, and the Emperor 
holds out hopes of a farther increase. This 
will re-act on the condition of the privates, by 
better enabling the colonels to resist the temp¬ 
tation of making money by their men. This 
scandalous practice has been checked by the 
Emperor making severe examples of the offend¬ 
ers—sending some to Siberia; but it exists on a 
large scale; and as restriction of corruption in 
Russia depends on the energy and personal inter¬ 
ference of the Emperor, we may fear that colonels 
will continue to profit by their opportunities. The 
Emperor does what he can, under existing cir¬ 
cumstances, to ameliorate the condition of the 
soldier; but as he can only afford to pay him 
eleven roubles a year, and feed him on black 
bread and oatmeal, much cannot be effected, or 

A lieut.-colonel receives 2000 roubles a-year. 

A major .... 2000 ,, 

Naval officers receive table money in the same proportion. 

After thirty-five years’ service, an officer is entitled to 
half his pay as a pension. 

The rank of staff-officer gives the right of nobility to the 
possessor and his children. Inferior rank ennobles the 
possessor only. Children of staff-officers are admissible as 
cadets and pensionnaires into the u imperial institutions” for 
either sex, where, if necessary, they are educated gratis. 


RUSSIA X 


404 ? 

his existence be otherwise than miserable.* He 
has, however, reduced the length of service. It 
was for twenty-five years. Now twenty years is 
the term, and leave of absence is granted with 
greater facility. At the end of twenty years the 
soldier is absolutely free : if he returns to his 
native village, he is allowed to retain his arms 
and uniform in order to excite military ardour 
in the villagers. 

O 

In a regiment,! each company of 110 men is 

* Private’s pay . . 11 roubles a-year. 

Corporal’s 15 ,, 

Serjeant’s . . 00 ,, 

Each man is allowed 3 lbs. (42 English ounces) of bread 

a day ; and 7 lbs. of meal a month, to make porridge. The 
sailors, when at sea, have, in addition to the above rations, 
6 ozs. of salt meat, and 2 drams of spirits, a day. A sailor 
has 12 roubles a-year pay. 

When the Emperor passes a corps in review, the men 
receive that day 6 ozs. of meat and a dram of spirits each. 

The cost of a Russian soldier, in the empire, is about 2 \d. 
a day. 

On foreign service, the pay of the army and navy is 
quadrupled. The army of the Caucasus receives double pay. 

f A regiment consists of three battalions of 1000 men 
each. Two regiments make a brigade ; two brigades form a 
division; four divisions constitute a corps d’armee. 

The Russian military force is divided into four armies, 
called the first army, the second army, the army of Siberia, 
and the army of the south. 


/ 


SOLDIERS. 40] 

divided into four artels (messes). The men are 
allowed to work by artels on private account. 
The money thus earned is put into a common 
fund. Part of this goes to a mess; and each 
soldier is entitled to receive a certain sum when 
discharged. The wealth of the fund (indepen¬ 
dent of considerations about the honesty of the 
colonel) depends on the time the regiment has 
existed, and on the quarters it has occupied— 
whether there has been a demand for labour or 
not. The share of men who die in service be¬ 
longs to the fund. When a non-commissioned 
officer receives his final discharge, the civil rank 
of officer is offered to him, which places him in 
the fourteenth class of nobility. Very few accept 
of it; the position is generally declined as being 
incompatible with previous habits and pursuits. 

From conversations which I had with Russian 
officers, I perceived that they have a poor 
opinion of French troops compared with their 
own. “Things are quite changed,” they ob¬ 
served, “there is no longer the great captain 
and the grand army: one will not rise again, 
and the other lias to be created.” In a similar 

tone General de-spoke to the Chevalier 

de-about the English navy. “It was only 

a shadow of its former self,” he said, “we might 
any day land 30,000 grenadiers in England; 

D D 




402 


RUSSIAN 


what could the English do ? we should destroy 
their arsenals, perhaps burn London, and then 
England woidd be thrown back for a century. 
They observed that French troops of the present 
day are not inured to fatigue by long marches, 
nor accustomed to the simulacre of war by great 
reviews ; their generals have no opportunities of 
handling large bodies of men. Russian troops, 
on the contrary, have every year marches of 
many hundreds of miles to perform, over a 
country without roads; they live encamped for 
months; they suffer all kinds of privations? 
they assemble every year or two, 100,000 at a 
time. If they take the field, shot—the least 
evil of war—is the only variety they have to 
encounter. 

The principal coiffeur at Odessa had served 
in a regiment of the line, in Spain, against the 
English, and had fought at Waterloo in the 

Imperial Guard. He f-Russia, and blessed 

his stars that he was a Frenchman, declaring 
that France and England were the only countries 
for a man to belong to. I presumed that he in¬ 
cluded the latter country in his eulogium out of 
compliment to the individual under his scissars. 
I asked him his opinion of Russian soldiers. 
1 ‘They are excellent soldiers,” he replied, but 
they have no chiefs.” I have heard this opinion 



GENERALS. 


403 


from many others besides the vieille moustache , 
and it is worth considering whether it be well 
founded or not. Great generals, like great poets 
or painters, are rare. Such men as Suwarroff, 
Napoleon, and Wellington, seldom appear on 
the stage. They know their art by intuition. 
The excellence of the common run of generals 
must depend on practice ; and none in the pre¬ 
sent day have more practice than the Russian 
generals. In the last twelve years they have had 
three wars; the Persian war, the Turkish war, 
and the Polish war; and their terrible loss in 
these campaigns (especially against the Turks in 
in 1828-9) was less owing to a want of general¬ 
ship, than to the absence of a commissariat and 
a competent medical staff. “ Dans cette mau- 
dite guerre de la Turquie,” said Count Lange- 
ron, “nous avons perdu 180,000 hommes dont 
140,000 sont morts de faim.” They have had 
a constant and harassing warfare with the Cir¬ 
cassians ; and they see reviews of 100,000 men 
in one part or other of the empire. They have 
an advantage over their rivals, in comparative 
youth ; generals under 40 years of age are com¬ 
monly seen in Russia. The blind obedience 
also of Russian soldiers, and the absence of dis¬ 
cussion about their officers, are favourable to 
mediocrity. French soldiers know at once if 

D T> 2 


404 


RUSSIAN 


their leader is wanting in talent, which is suffi¬ 
cient to embarrass an ordinary man, and affect 
his decisions : but mediocrity in Russia has the 
full benefit of being implicitly relied on. I am 
not by any means capable of giving an opinion 
of the merits of Russian generals, but they have 
certainly far more practice in the art of war than 
their brother officers of other countries. 

Several of the Russian officers at Odessa ex¬ 
pressed a poor opinion of the military talents of 
Marshal Paskewitch, Prince of Warsaw, saying 
that he owed all his successes to good fortune : 
apropos to which, a gentleman said to me one 
day, “ the Marshal has incontestably been suc¬ 
cessful in Persia, in Turkey, and in Poland: 
now I would not say that this proves him to 
possess talent, but it certainly is no proof of the 
contrary.” Everybody, however, admitted that 
Marshal Paskewitch was a good administrator, 
which was much wanted in the Russian army, and 
he had gained great credit in consequence with 
the Emperor. I heard General Yermoloff spoken 
of as a prime favourite, he being considered 
at once a good politician and an able general, 
with the art, which Suwarroff eminently pos¬ 
sessed, of leading the Russian soldiery by their 
prejudices and superstition. He principally dis¬ 
tinguished himself by the pacification of Giorgia. 


GENERALS. 


405 


His connexion with the old Moscow nobility— 
the representatives of the bulky, bearded boyars 
—gave umbrage to the Emperor, it is said, 
and threw him out of employ. General Mu- 
ravief, who has also been in the shade since 
1837, was likewise highly thought of, and con¬ 
sidered certain of having an important command 
in the event of a war. I am not exactly aware 
of the reason why the Emperor ordered him to 
retire to his estate : some remissness of discipline 
in the troops under his command was the alleged 
motive, but I believe that a political suspicion 
attached to him. His disgrace was one of the 
many unexpected ones which signalized the 
Emperor’s visit to Southern or New Russia, in 
1837. 

Every thing relative to the Russian army is 
of the highest importance, whether morally or 
physically considered, because the army is Rus¬ 
sia. The government is military: the rank and 
precedence of the empire is military: every 
claim to consideration must have a military title ; 
and the Emperor possesses his mighty power— 
a power never before held by one man—only 
in virtue of his being at the head of the army. 
And by the army that power will be shaken to its 
centre some day, when an Emperor shall be on 
the throne without the energy to gallop off 2000 



406 


RUSSIAN 


miles to look into an abuse, and the moral 
courage to punish its author, though of the 
highest rank. By means of the army, the 
gigantic scheme of Russian policy is being 
worked out, the policy which Peter I. conceived 
and Catherine II. fostered. It does more than 
conquer: it prepares the way for commerce. 
Rich cities have grown up in the room of Tartar 
villages under its auspices, and commerce is 
silently but surely extending its influence on 
the shores of the Caspian under its protection. 
England’s commerce has led to conquest ; Rus¬ 
sian trade has followed her arms. And now the 
grand conception of Peter the Great,* of leading 
back commerce to the track which it followed 
in the Middle Ages, by the Indus, the Oxus, the 
Caspian, the Wolga, the Don, and the Euxine, 
and thus uniting central Asia with Russia and 
Germany, is apparently on the point of receiv- 

* Peter the Great, full of the great project of influencing 
the commerce of central Asia, sent an expedition of 4000 
men, under Prince Bekovitch, against Khiva, which he 
rightly considered as the key of Bokhara. The Prince 
perished with nearly all his men in the deserts. Peter saw 
only the result; he overlooked the obstacles, insurmountable 
in his day. During the 120 years which have elapsed 
since, Russia has extended her frontier to the confines of 
Kharasm, and has a base of operations within a short dis¬ 
tance of Khiva. 


POLICY. 


407 


ing the initiation of accomplishment. Having 
penetrated Persia, and made the Caspian a mare 
clausum —having done the same with the Black 
Sea—there only remains for her to effect the 
subjection or gain the co-operation of Khiva, in 
order to secure the trade of Bokhara, Tamar- 
cand, etc., which will tend to restore those 
countries to their flourishing condition under 
the dynasty of the Timourides. If this should 
be the fruit of the present or of a future Russian 
expedition to Khiva, a greater result will not 
often have flowed from arms. Whoever is mas¬ 
ter of Khiva is necessarily the arbiter of the 
commerce of Bokhara. 

Bokhara # will prove a rich acquisition to 
commerce. It has 2,500,000 inhabitants given 
to trade, and in direct communication with 
Persia, Affghanistan, Thibet, and India. Aff- 
ghans and Hindoos form part of the population 
of the capital, which amounts to 70,000. 

* The city of Bokhara is 234 miles from Khiva, and 340 
miles from Herat. The climate is fine and salubrious. 
Meyendorff found melons in December, growing in the open 
air. Bokhara was very flourishing from 890 to 998: in the 
latter year it was pillaged and burnt by Genghis Khan, who^ 
however, rebuilt it towards the end of his life. The city 
again attained prosperity 200 years later, under Timour; 
although he perferred Samareand for his residence, in 
which city his tomb still exists. 


408 


RUSSIAN 


The means have long been preparing for the 
end. Since the fortress of Orenburgh was built 
in 1742, a succession of envoys and presents has 
passed between Bokhara and Russia. Cathe¬ 
rine II. sent 40,000 roubles to rebuild a famous 
medresseh (college) at Bokhara, which had been 
destroyed. From 1775 to 1820, twelve Bokharan 
envoys came to Russia, each of whom remained 
a year or longer. Envoys from Khiva have also 
visited Russia at different periods; and Khivan 
and Bokharan merchants have long carried on 
an irregular trade with Orenburgh, through the 
country of the Kirghises, and with Astrakhan, 
by the Caspian, which they reach at Balkan 
bay. Russia in her turn has sent embassies to 
Bokhara and Khiva; notably (in 1819-20), that 
of Baron G. Meyendorff to the former city, and 
of Mr. N. Mouravief to the latter; accounts of 
which have been published. Mr. Blankennegel 
also gave to the world an account of his mission 
to Khiva in 1794, including some interesting 
notices of the Kbanat. Mr. Mouravief earnestly 
recommended the Russian government to take 
possession of the Khanat of Khiva, as a sure 
means of securing the commerce of Bokhara. 
The Bokharans now import into Russia about 
6,000,000 worth of roubles a-year; and the trade 
would rapidly increase, it is said, but for the 


POLICE. 409 

dangers ot the road between Bokhara and the 
Russian frontier. This road would be quite safe 
were Khiva subject to Russia. The caravans 
from Bokhara follow nearly the same route to 
Astrakhan which their predecessors took in the 
Middle Ages; and it may be observed that the 
ancient line of trade between India and Trans- 
oxiana was the same as that which exists in the 
present day: Attock, Peshawaur, and Cabool, 
were the principal stages. 

In anticipation of establishing a mighty domi¬ 
nion on the monopoly of commerce between 
Europe and Asia, Russia has secured, or is 
securing, all the routes leading to Asia, east of 
Caucasus. She is already mistress of the water¬ 
line: the mouths of the Danube, the Euxine, 
the Don, the Wolga, and the Caspian, are hers; 
and she has only to take up the splendid design 
of Selim II. (of Turkey), of cutting a navigable 
canal* from the Don to the Wolga, a distance of 

* Selim II. conceived the idea of joining the Bosphorus 
with the Caspian, in order to attack the Persians with 
greater ease. For this purpose, in 1568, he sent a flotilla 
up the Don, with several thousand labourers, to cut a canal 
to the Wolga; and an army of Janissaries to protect them 
from the Tartars. The Janissaries occupied Astrakhan, and 
thus came into collision with the Russians for the first time. 
The canal was traced out; but repeated attacks of Russians 
and Tartars compelled the abandonment of this great work 
at the end of two years. 


410 


RUSSIAN 


about 30 miles, in order that merchandise may 
be carried by water from beyond Vienna to the 
heart of Persia, and the confines of Khiva. 

I will not speculate on the chance of uniting (or 
reuniting?) the Oxus with the Caspian, by which 
Afghanistan would be nearly approached by 
water, since that may not be practicable. From 
the Euxine, three routes conduct eastward into 
Asia: first, by the Don and the Wolga to As¬ 
trakhan on the Caspian; this was a favourite 
route of the Venetians. Secondly, by Redout- 
Kaleh, on the coast of Abasia, through Immeretia 
to Tiflis; whence the distance is short to Bakou 
on the Caspian 24 hours sail from the rich silk 
province of Ghylan in Persia. There is a road 
fit for carts between Redout-Kaleh and Bakou. 
This route was followed by the Genoese. Thirdly, 
by Trebizonde and Erzeroom into Persia. This 
route has been followed of late years, in conse¬ 
quence of the Russian government having closed 
the port of Redout-Kaleh, with the view of 
blockading the Abasians more closely; and is 
chiefly used by English and other merchants 
trading with Persia. It is in the Turkish terri¬ 
tory: but Russia, in order to command it, is 
building a first-rate fortress at Goomri, about 
nine miles from the road, and 40 miles from the 
Turkish city of Kars. Goomri will also be a 


POLICY. 


411 


point d'appui in any future operations against 
Asia Minor. In a similar spirit of prevision, 
Russia has, I hear, built a fortress at the ex¬ 
tremity of the gulf Tiouk Kharassou (on the Cas¬ 
pian), about fourteen days’ march from Khiva. 

Russia has nearly levelled the natural obsta¬ 
cles to the revival of the ancient transit between 
the East and the West, and has opened land 
and water communication for merchants; she is 
preparing to offer her subjects and the Germans 
an opening for a vast commerce with central 
Asia, and even with China,* without the neces¬ 
sity of traversing the ocean ; and the agency of 
steam will give facilities for extending their 
operations to a degree uncontemplated in other 
days. It appears a dream to think that we may 
in a few years be able to steam through the 
heart of Europe, from Ratisbonne to the farther 
shores of the Caspian, without setting foot on 
shore; thence in a few days reach the Oxus; 
navigate that river to Kondouz, which is at no 
great distance from Cabool; and re-embarking 
on the Cabool river, continue on by water to 

* Prussian cloths are now carried from Silesia to 
Kiahtka, on the frontiers of China: they pay a transit duty 
of 8 per cent. The expense of carriage for merchandise is 
trifling in Russia and Asia, because the cattle find pasturage 
everywhere for nothing. 


412 


COMMERCE. 


the Indus, where a thousand miles of navigation 
present themselves. From the neighbourhood 
of the Rhine to Lahore without seeing the ocean, 
or using land conveyance for above twenty days! 

Will commerce follow this new track, in com¬ 
pliance with the axiom, “the port makes the 
trade?” Will the central Asiatics avail them¬ 
selves of the communications opened for them 
with Europe? Will they accept through the 
agency of Russia the products of civilization 
which we have neglected to convey to them by 
the Indus and their own streams? I think we 
may answer in the affirmative, and prepare our¬ 
selves to witness before many years the com¬ 
mencement of a third commercial revolution 
since the Christian era. Russia, I fear, will 
profit by our indifference to the importance of 
civilizing central Asia by commerce,—by our 
neglect of the facilities which have so obviously 
presented themselves to our notice. Above one 
hundred years Russia has been fighting her 
way eastwards, occasionally checked but never 
repulsed; step by step she has overcome the 
obstacles which impeded the flow of commerce 
from the West into central Asia. What have 
we been about during that time? What have 
we done for the prosperity of the countries lying 
between the Inckis and the Caspian ? 


ODESSA. 


413 


CHAPTER XVII. 


INDIVIDUALS-JOURNALS-GERMAN VILLAGES-COLONIZA¬ 
TION AND EMIGRATION-BALL-LADIES-DECORATIONS — 

NEW YEAR-REMARKABLE OPERATION-LENT. 

Owing to its southern locality and its com¬ 
parative freedom, Odessa is a favourite resort of 
the Russians, even from a long distance. The 
gentry of Podolia and Wolhynia used to fre¬ 
quent it as a watering-place, taking the oppor¬ 
tunity at the same time to sell their corn, and 
then, during the season, the city was a scene of 
unusual gaiety and expenditure. But since the 
last Polish war this influx has ceased : a Pole is 
rarely now seen at Odessa. The convenience of 
Odessa as a residence, the facilities for educating 
children, and the advantages derivable from its 
free-port, cause many Russian employes to retire 
to it on quitting public life, while the demand 
for talent necessarily existing in the capital of a 
thriving colony, as New Russia must be con¬ 
sidered, has gathered to the spot various enter- 


414 


ODESSA. 


prising individuals. M. Golofschine, who went 
ambassador to China, resided there in 1839, 
and was remarkable for the activity of mind and 
body which he still displayed at the advanced 
age of 84, daily taking exercise in the cold 
winds, even when the thermometer of Reaumur 
was several degrees below zero.* There was 
M. Negri, one of the gentlemen who composed 
M. Meyendorff’s mission to Bokhara. There 
was M. Dugouroff, who had long filled the post 
of magnetiser to the Narishkin family, and by 
whom he was pensioned on becoming blind. 
By birth he was French : his patronymic was 
Dugour , but on account of the feeling mani¬ 
fested against his nation in 1812, he petitioned 
the Emperor to be allowed to add off to his 
name. There was another gentlemanly French 
hnigre, at Odessa, who had also taken refuge in 
Russia from the revolutionary storm, and had 
passed his life, teaching Latin and French at 
Karkoff, in which university he became a pro- 

* The coldest days I remarked at Odessa in 1839 were 
the 19th, 20th, and 21st of March, during an equinoctial 
gale from the north-east, which caused many wrecks on the 
Euxine. Reaumur’s thermometer stood at 12° below zero, 
and the sea was frozen out of sight. A gale from the south¬ 
east, on April 3, brought a very heavy fall of snow. The 
latitude of Odessa is 46° 25 '. 


ODESSA. 


415 


lessor. After thirty years 1 services he received 
a decoration and a pension. It is very stupid 
of me to forget his name, for I often listened 
with interest to his enthusiastic recollections of 
his belle France and his cher Paris. He longed 
to see them once more, but could not afford to 
sacrifice his pension as he would do by leaving 
Russia. I thought that with his polished cour- 
tier-like manners of the old school, which thirty 
years residence in Russia had not worn off, he 
would have found himself a perfect stranger in 
his dear France. He related to me an anecdote 
illustrative of the perfect isolation of Russian 
provincial towns about every thing relating to 
foreign countries. During the campaign of 
1812, some French officers, taken prisoners, 
were sent to Karkoff, where of course they 
became intimate with their countrvman, the 
professor. From that hour they heard not one 
word of Napoleon until the news of his abdica¬ 
tion at Fontainbleau was published. They re¬ 
fused to credit it, and did not entirely believe it 
till the order for their liberation arrived. We 
remarked at Odessa, on the contrary, that we 
were kept in ignorance of what was passing in 
Russia. We knew by every post what was 
doing in France, England, and Germany, be¬ 
cause certain papers were allowed admission, but 


416 


ODESSA. 


the Russian journals spoke of little else than 
the imperial court in one measured tone of 
praise. A traveller therefore ceases after a 
while to be surprised at the inability of the 
inhabitants in general of a Russian town to 
answer his queries: he may soon know as much 
as them. One must have a direct interest in 
ascertaining the state of things in Russia, or 
have a tolerable share of inquisitiveness, in 
order to gain information. Even then it is 
necessary to avoid the appearance of seeking it. 
Les extremes se iouchent. The Yankee mystifies 
the unwary traveller for fun; the Russian will 
endeavour to mystify him, not to compromise 
himself. 

Frenchmen are less readily received in Russia 
than formerly, and those domiciled in the country 
are discouraged from paying a visit to France. 

Mr. R-being in Switzerland in 1838 wished 

to go to Paris for a short time on business. He 
applied to the Russian minister for a passport 
(being a naturalized Russian). You can have 
one, was the reply, but recollect if you visit Paris 
you cannot return to Russia. I may remark, as 
a reason for this particular restriction, that Mr. 
R-was master of a school in Russia. 

Among the foreigners in Russian pay at Odessa, 
Mr. Sontag was the most remarkable, both on 




ODESSA. 


417 


account of his merit and of the varied and inte¬ 
resting life he had led. An American by birth, 
and I suppose a German by descent, though he 
knew of no relationship with the celebrated 
vocalist (now Countess Rossi), Mr. Sontag, after 
having served at sea, left his own country, and 
entered the Russian navy in the Turkish war 
of 1811. He was at the siege of Varna in that 
year. The following year, Admiral Tchitcha- 
gofF, the commander-in-chief in the Euxine, was 
ordered to reinforce the army of the Danube 

f 

with his “ crews,and, taking the command, 
march to co-operate with the other armies against 
Napoleon. Sontag accompanied the Admiral. 

* The seamen of the Russian navy are divided into forty- 
three battalions, called crews, officered and modelled like 
infantry regiments. The “crews” from No. 1 to No. 27 
belong to the Baltic fleet: those from No. 28 to No. 43 
belong to the Euxine fleet. A crew, when complete, con¬ 
tains 1032 men. There are, in addition, brigades of marine 
artillery. Each crew is officered by one captain (colonel), 
one second captain (lieut-colonel), two captain-lieutenants 
(majors), eight first and second lieutenants (captains and 
lieutenants) and a proportion of midshipmen. Each “crew” 
mans one first-rate, or a second-rate and a frigate, or two 
large frigates. Smaller vessels, as corvettes, brigs, trans¬ 
ports, etc., are manned by detachments from the “ crews.” 
As the “crews” are regularly trained to infantry service, they 
can take their place in the line where disembarked without 
confusion. Russian sailors are in fact marines (Anglice) 
who go aloft. 


E E 


418 


ODESSA. 


Getting tired of the infantry after a while, he 
exchanged into a regiment of cavalry; he was 
taken prisoner by the French, and retaken after¬ 
wards in Germany. Admiral Tchitchagoff’s 
mistake, which enabled the remnant of the French 
army to cross the Beresina, is well known : he 
imagined that the bridge which Napoleon was 
throwing across the river was a feint, and that 
the passage would be effected some miles lower 
down : he accordingly marched with his army 
to that point, and thus gave the Emperor time to 
escape out of Russia. But for this error, every 
Frenchman must have laid down his arms. The 
Russians have made a joke of it, and say, in 
allusion to his profession, that the Admiral would 
have approached the bridge, but the wind was 
not fair. At the general peace, Mr. Sontag went 
to try his fortune in Buenos Ayres. He remained 
there a year; then returned to Russia, and re¬ 
entered the naval service in the Euxine. He rose 
rapidly, and served for many years as Admiral 
Greig’s flag-captain. He afterwards filled the 
situation of inspector of quarantine at Odessa, 
and of captain of the port, and expected to have 
the post, about to be created, of inspector of 
steam navigation in the Euxine,* for which he 

* Russian steam navigation is extensive in the Euxine. 
There is one line between Odessa and Constantinople; 


ODESSA. 


419 


was well fitted. He was exactly the man with 
energy and resources for a rising colony : he had 
just built a steamer on the beach, when I knew 
him : every thing belonging to her, her engines 
and boilers, etc., were made at Odessa. In this 
undertaking he was assisted by a clever English 
engineer named Parry. Mr. Sontag, though an 
Englishman in language and thought, had quite 
identified himself with Russia, having obtained 
the civil rank of general and conseiller actuel , 
and married a Russian lady. Madame Sontag 
enjoys a literary reputation : in addition to some 
original compositions, she has translated “Old 
Mortality’’ into Russian. It was rather a curious 
coincidence that Mr. Sontag’s brother should 
be settled at Cincinnati, which is as remark¬ 
able a creation in the New, as Odessa is in the 
Old World—each of only a few years’ date, and 
each wealthy and populous beyond all expectation. 
His niece wrote a letter in French to her cousin 
at Odessa, about the time I speak of, in which 

another line from Odessa to the principal places in the 
Crimea, and to Berdiansk and Tagarok in the sea of Azof 
Iron steamers are projected for the rivers. 

There are also men-of-war steamers. In 1839, there were 
five at Sevastopol of from 80 to 120 horse power, and four 
tug steamers of from 40 to 80 horse power. Two large 
5 teamers were expected from England. 


E E 2 


420 


COLONISTS. 


she described the wonders of Cincinnati, and 
expressed herself as if the good folks on the 
Mississippi supposed Southern Russia to be in¬ 
habited by little better than bears and wild Tar¬ 
tars. It rather surprises us to find an American 
of ability settled in the Russian service. There 
are so many ways in America of pushing one s 
fortune, that no apparent reason can be assigned 
for the expatriation—for leaving a country of 
unexampled enterprise and freedom, where every 
kind of talent finds occupation and reward, and 
every sort of temper may administer unto itself, 
to live in an empire where books are feared, 
and brigands only travel without passports. An 
Englishman, a Frenchman, or a German has an 
excuse: want drives him from his own country, 
where it cannot be appeased, and then the mar¬ 
ket of the world is fairly open to him; but an 
American has every resource in his own land 
for occupying an active mind, or for relieving 
his condition : if pressed in the eastern states, 
he can go westwards; if he loves to domineer, 
he may live among slaves in the south ; if wild 
democracy has charms for him, he may fully 
gratify himself in the north-western states. 

I would not have my reader infer from the 
above, that colonists are not well received in 
Russia. Every part of New Russia gives evi- 


COLONISTS. 


421 


dence of the solicitude of the government about 
the comfort and prosperity of the colonies of all 
nations and persuasions which stud its surface. 
Armenians, Greeks, and Germans, by tens of 
thousands, driven out of Persia and Turkey by 
misrule, and out of Germany by want, have 
made New Russia their home, and enjoy pri¬ 
vileges above native-born settlers. I visited 
some of the German villages in the steppe, and 
found in them great comfort, denoting a state 
of progressive prosperity. The Germans are 
very valuable settlers, on account of their steady 
habits and agricultural skill. I was both sur¬ 
prised and pleased with their intelligence and 
well-directed industry. The Protestant German 
villages in the steppe are far superior to any of 
the others, which I would not say were it not an 
universally admitted fact. Why, or wherefore 
they are so, I will not pretend to decide. Perhaps 
the absence of fetes and fast-days gives the Pro¬ 
testants in Russia an advantage in business and 
agriculture over their Catholic and Greek bre¬ 
thren. Time is most valuable in a new country. 
The immigration into Russia may be cited as 
one of the most favourable points of view in 
which the government can be regarded; because 
it may be considered as arising from the oppo¬ 
site causes which produce emigration . A French 


422 


COLONISTS. 


writer has said, “ les emigrations sont les preuves 
les plus fortes de la misere et de la mauvaise 
administration d'un etat. C'est presque toujours 
l ame dechiree par la tristesse que le paysan le 
plus malheureux quitte le sol oil il a recu le jour. 
Li emigration est la marque la plus sure et la plus 
incontestable dun mauvais gouvernement If 
emigration is a sign of bad government, and 
Persia and Turkey have offered the picture of 
cause and effect, it it fair to receive, though of 
course with considerable caution, immigration 
as an index of the contrary. I presume that 
the author whom I have quoted, drew a distinc¬ 
tion in his own mind between emigration and 
colonization: the two are not to be confounded. 
A government is only to blame when its subjects 
leave their home in numbers to gain subsistence 
in a foreign land; but in enabling them to settle 
in countries dependent on the metropolis, and 
under native laws, its conduct is wise and pater¬ 
nal: it provides the remedy for a state of things 
to which all great countries are exposed. The 
words “emigration” and “colonization” are too 
lightly confounded in England, and unpleasant 
feelings are thereby raised, which would other¬ 
wise be avoided. “Emigration” is scarcely 
applicable to English colonization. An indi¬ 
vidual about to leave England for New South 


COLONISTS. 


423 


Wales or Canada, should think that he is merely 
changing his place of abode from one part of 
the British empire to another; not that he is 
abandoning his country. It cannot be called 
expatriation, to go to a place, however far 
removed from the mother country, where our 
own laws, institutions, religion, manners, and 
language prevail. Exile depends less on dis¬ 
tance than on association: the English settled 
in France or Italy, hearing a strange tongue, 
and subject to foreign laws, may be said to be 
expatriated rather than their fellow countrymen 
residing in New South Wales. 

# # # # 

A grand ball on New Year’s-eve, o.s., which 
corresponded with our January 12th, gave us an 
opportunity of seeing all the society of Odessa 
together. The handsome saloon at the Exchange 
sparkled with lights, fine dresses, and beauty. 
I have rarely seen so many attractive women 
together, owing, perhaps, to the intermixture of 
Greeks, Italians, Germans, and Russians, during 
thirty or forty years. Russian women are not 
in general handsome; nevertheless, the palm of 
beauty at Odessa, when I was there, was borne 

away by two Russian ladies, Madame S-, 

and Mademoiselle I-: but they were excep¬ 

tions. There were also several good-looking 




424 


BALL. 


young Greeks, particularly Mademoiselle M—, 
who was blessed with a Madonna's coun¬ 
tenance. My Odessa reader will not know, 
though he may guess, who is meant from the 
initial, for there were six fair Greeks whose 
names began with M, all pretty, and each, 
excepting one, thinking herself the prettiest girl 
in the city. There was also an elegant young 
Athenian lady married in Odessa, and a charm¬ 
ing Greca-Egyptian, Arabian in form and Attic 
in countenance, whose ticket in the matrimonial 
lottery had made her exchange sun and sand for 
snow and steppe. Among the men in the ball 
there were two Russian merchants who still 
retained the old national costume, with long 
beards and dark robes; and the effect was 
rendered more striking, by the contrast of 
their appearance with that of their wives and 
daughters attired in the latest Paris fashion. 
The ladies were exceedingly well dressed, and 
the gentlemen’s uniforms glittered with stars and 
crosses. Some individuals wore so many deco¬ 
rations, that others with only three or four 
appeared shabby. One has frequently occasion 
on the continent to acknowledge the force of 
Talleyrand’s remark to a fellow diplomatist who 
doubted Lord Castlereagh’s identity at a party, 
because his lordship was not decore. “Ma foil” 


BALL. 


425 


said the Prince, il il cst bien distingue .” This is 
particularly remarked at the diplomatic dinners 
given in minor German capitals; as a rule, the 
only person without a decoration is the English 
minister, who, as the representative of England 
and as a gentleman, probably ranks first in the 
room; and one cannot help thinking with Talley¬ 
rand, as the eye glances round the table from 
broad ribbon to broad ribbon, green, blue, and 
red, from star to cross, and from cross to medal, 
to his plain, unadorned coat,—“ via foi! il est 
bien distingue .” Every thing, however, is com¬ 
parative : we think the Germans lavish of their 
orders: the Germans ridicule Russian profusion. 
The old Emperor Francis, of Austria, whenever 
a Russian general was to be presented, used to 
desire that the firmament might come in, in 
allusion to the number of his stars. 

But to return to our ball. A few minutes 
before midnight the band, changing tune, began 
to play the national anthem. We all stood still. 
As the clock struck, twelve servants came in 
with champagne. All the company took a glass, 
and toasted the new year in chorus. We then 
severally wished each other a happy new year, 
and friends exchanged the kiss of peace. The 
scene was truly characteristic; a merry hour 
was passed in thus doing honour to the birth of 


426 


OPERATION. 


1839. The lively Mazurka then struck up, and 
dancing* was continued with spirit till morning. 
The Russians are very fond of outward signs of 
good will, and far be it from me to say that they 
are not sincere. In their domestic circles it is 
the custom after dinner for all the party, having 
first crossed themselves, to wish each other joy, 
and embrace. The presence of a few strangers 
does not prevent this fraternal exhibition, nor 
are they left out in the peace offering. This 
custom of kissing after dinner, and of dram¬ 
drinking before, is I believe, peculiar to Russia. 
The former is by no means disagreeable at 
times; the taste for the latter must depend upon 
habit, influenced perhaps by climate. If we 
may judge by the remarkable gastric powers of 
the Russians, the practice of prefacing a meal 
by a glass of raw spirits is anti-dyspeptic. 

The spring of 1839, at Odessa, was distin¬ 
guished by a remarkable surgical operation, 
which deserves a more technical description 
than I am capable of giving, performed by an 
illiterate Bulgarian. Mr. Bertini, notary, a man 
highly esteemed and in good circumstances, had 
for many years been afflicted with a wen in his 
neck. It increased to the size of his head, and 
almost rendered life insupportable to him. He 
at length resolved to have it cut out, and, as 


OPERATION. 


427 


the Odessa faculty, fearful of the consequences 
of hemorrhage, would not undertake the opera¬ 
tion, he prepared to go to Paris, in order to put 
himself in the hands of some eminent French 
surgeon. In his state of suffering, however, the 
idea of so long a journey discouraged him : he 
delayed his departure from month to month, and 
finally availed himself of an excuse for giving it 
up altogether. He accidentally heard of a Bul¬ 
garian peasant in the vicinity of Kiehenef, 110 
miles off, celebrated for his skill in removing 
wens from cattle, and who was reported to have 
also tried his hand successfully on peasants’ 
bodies. Mr. Bertini sent for him. On seeing 
the wen, the Bulgarian treated it lightly: he 
promised a speedy cure, without pain or loss of 
blood, provided the patient would consent to 
trust entirely to him. Mr. Bertini agreed. 
This caused an immense sensation among the 
faculty : they seemed to have no objection to 
Mr. Bertini dying under the hands of a regular 
surgeon, but were scandalized at the idea of 
his being put to death by a Bulgarian cattle- 
doctor. Some of them endeavoured to dissuade 
the latter from operating on the wen; they 
threatened him with the law as a quack, and 
told him that he would be assuredly sent to 
Siberia if Mr. Bertini died under his treat- 


428 


OPERATION. 


ment. The Bulgarian laughed at their remon¬ 
strances, and his confidence gave Mr. Bertini 
the courage which the medical clamour was well 
calculated to destroy. He commenced by rub¬ 
bing a red powder on the wen, the effect of 
which was to corrode the outer skin; he then 
introduced simple pluggets of paper into the 
substance, and insinuated them farther in every 
day. A discharge ensued, without causing pain 
or producing any constitutional effect on the 
patient. At the end of three weeks, one half of 
the wen had come away, leaving the remaining 
half in a state of putridity, which rendered its 
complete removal an easy task. The Bulgarian 
now prepared to use steel, in order to effect the 
separation at the proper moment, because the 
process of rotting the excrescence could not be con¬ 
tinued beyond a certain point, lest the neck itself 
should suffer. Here, however, was the presumed 
dangerous point; hemorrhage was apprehended, 
and the doctors renewed their protestations 
against the operation. Finding that they could 
not frighten the Bulgarian, or induce his patient 
to abandon the cure so happily begun, though 
they shook his nerves by their narrow-minded 
apprehensions, they endeavoured to work on the 
fears of Madame Bertini, by telling her that her 
husband would certainly be sacrificed. But as 


OPERATION. 


429 


the Bulgarian had already performed a miracle, 
in her opinion, by removing half the wen, the 
lady, instead of yielding, encouraged her hus¬ 
band to resign himself entirely to him for the 
coup de maitre; and it is fair to say, that when 
the thing was decided on, one regular doctor 
cooperated with the Bulgarian, and lent him his 
instruments. Accordingly, placing his patient 
in a chair, he took hold of a surgical knife 
provided for him, but unused to so fine an 
edge, he exchanged it for his own clasp knife, 
which had relieved many a poor cow from a 
similar annoyance: with this rude instrument, 
and his hands, he completely removed the re¬ 
mainder of the wen, in one piece (weighing eight 
pounds), without causing any pain, or shedding 
scarcely any blood. The loose skin, in which 
the excrescence had been inclosed, alone re¬ 
mained, like a bag, and that detached itself in 
a few days. I saw Mr. Bertini the day after the 
operation: he was looking well, and was of 
course quite happy. In three days he was 
dressed as usual. The Bulgarian who had per¬ 
formed this wonderful operation, seemed to think 
that he had done nothing extraordinary. I do 
not know what recompense he received. Some 
one said at the time, that Mr. Bertini, being 
a rich man, ought to reckon the expense of 


430 


LENT. 


a journey to Paris; add to that his funeral 
charges, or the expense of his journey back to 
Odessa, if he escaped alive ; and give the sum 
total to the man who had delivered him from 
the curse of his life, without putting him to any 
inconvenience. 

This was the happiest carnival Mr. Bertini 
ever passed. 

I also passed a pleasant carnival. I had 
intended quitting Odessa at the expiration of it, 
but bad weather detained me through a great 
part of Lent, the same cause also acting on, and 
giving me the agreeable company of Sir Edward 
Baynes, the English consul at St. Petersburg!!, 
who was proceeding to Malta via Odessa and 
Constantinople. A Russian Lent, by its rigour 
and penance, strikingly contrasts with the gaiety 
and feasting which precedes and succeeds it. 
The churches are filled from morning till night. 
Religiously disposed people feel bound to attend 
church seven hours a day, standing nearly all 
the time : their diet is composed of bread and 
vegetables. The two combined have a visible 
effect on many, particularly on ladies, since they 
are more scrupulously observant of religious 
forms than men are. The vocal music in 
Russian churches is singularly beautiful. 


PASSPORT. 


431 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

PASSPORTS - VOITURIN —JEWS-SOLDIERS-TULTSCHIN—• 

BRITCHKA-NIGHT TRAVELLING-POSTMASTER-RUSSIAN 

AND POLISH TOWNS-PEASANTS — SKILFUL DRIVING— 

RADZIVILOF. 

Quitting a Russian town for foreign parts, after 
a residence of some months, involves no small 
portion of inconvenience. In the first place, the 
traveller, whether a native or a foreigner, must 
have his intention of departure, and the place 
by which he purposes to leave the empire, 
announced three times in the Gazette. Where 
the Gazette is weekly, as at Odessa, this causes 
a delay of a fortnight. This regulation is osten¬ 
sibly to prevent a person going away in debt; 
but as no kind of guarantee is accepted, there 
must be other motives for inflicting the an¬ 
noyance. When the publication, which costs 
about four roubles, is over, the traveller sends 
a “supplication” to the police, drawn up by 
a notary, that a proper report may be made to 


432 


PASSPORT. 


the governor’s office, to authorize the delivery 
of his passport. He is generally exposed to 
some farther bother with the clerks; and finally 
obtains his passport at an expense of about fifteen 
roubles in all. I mention this, because the 
Russians assert that no charge is made for a 
passport in their country. Two Russian ac¬ 
quaintances of mine, on ten francs being de¬ 
manded for the signature of their passport at 
Paris, considered the charge an extortion, and 
referred it to their ambassador. Count Pahlen 
said that no foreigner in Russia paid for a pass¬ 
port; therefore no Russian in France should pay 
for his: he desired them to leave Paris without 
the visa , and if they were stopped anywhere, to 
send him word. His Excellency was decidedly 
in error. There may be no charge for a pass¬ 
port in Russia, quasi passport, but the traveller 
is subjected to a process which extracts several 
roubles from him, in addition to ten days delay; 
not to mention trifling douceurs which he may 
think it advisable to give to the under-officials, 
in order to expedite his affair. An Englishman 
will not obtain a passport in Russia under fifteen 
or twenty roubles. If he travels post, the tra¬ 
veller has then to make a “ request” for a podo- 
roshnaia (an order for post-horses), for which 
there is a fixed price, and which is only granted 


PASSPORT. 


433 


on farther payment, beforehand, of one-fourth 
of the expense of the horses for his intended 
journey, or two kopecks per horse per werst. 

I had some extra embarrassment in taking out 
my passport to leave Russia, on account of the 
master of my hotel having neglected to see 
my name duly inscribed in the police registry. 
For this he was fined 120 roubles. This circum¬ 
stance gave me another view of public morality 
in Russia. My landlord, not at all relishing 
the fine, which he fully deserved, came to me 
and said that if I would give him a certificate of 
my passport having been in the consul’s office 
since my arrival at Odessa, he should be able to 
build thereon a defence which would reduce the 
fine, if not remove it entirely. I replied that 
that was out of the question; with every wish to 
oblige him, I could not set my name to an 
untruth. The man was astonished at my sim¬ 
plicity. “True, however,” he added, after a 
pause, “you are new in the country; but I dare 
say your consul will not object to give me the 
certificate; he has been many years in Russia, 
and probably will not mind telling a lie.” This 
made me wish that the fine had been double in 
amount. 

The beginning of April I finally left Odessa 
for Germany. Two routes lead from Odessa to 


434 


JOURNEY„ 


the Austrian frontier; one by Novoselitz, the 
other by Radzivilof. The distance from Odessa 
to Novoselitz is 435 wersts (290 miles) ; from 
Odessa to Radzivilof, 702 wersts (468 miles). 
Tchernovitch is the nearest Austrian town to 
Novoselitz: Brody corresponds to Radzivilof. 
The former route is usually preferred, because 
the traveller is sooner out of the Russian terri¬ 
tory, where, owing to the want of roads and 
inns, he is exposed to great discomfort. I chose 
the latter route, because, as I was doomed to 
make a Russian journey, I thought it right to 
see as much of the country as conveniently 
lay in my way, and also on account of Mr. 
Werner, a well-known voiturin , owner of a com¬ 
fortable vehicle and four good horses, who was 
going to Brody. As I was unused to Russian 
travelling, my friends advised me to put myself 
under his guidance in preference to posting 
alone. They did not know, nor did I, the 
horrors of the creeping pace of a voiturin. I 
arranged with Mr. Werner to be carried to 
Brody for a certain sum ; and two other indi¬ 
viduals did the same. We provided ourselves 
with tea and sugar, some bottles of wine, and 
white bread, for we were like mariners about to 
cross the ocean; and after some detention at the 
barrier, three miles from the city, to have our 


JOURNEY. 


435 


baggage examined, we launched into the steppe 
at noon. The weather was still bitterly cold, 
and snow covered the ground. We were exactly 
in the wrong season for travelling, — between 
winter and spring; the snow was not suffi¬ 
ciently hard for sledging, and had not given 
way enough to allow wheels to run freely. I 
soon therefore perceived the mistake I had made 
in my choice of a conveyance, it being evident 
that nothing short of a light carriage and an 
unlimited command of horses could enable one 
to make good progress. However, there was 
no help for it at the moment; my companion 
said, nous sommes dans la galere , et il faut voguer . 
We determined though to change our mode of 
locomotion at the first convenient place, and 
make the voiturin a present of our fare. The 
first day we travelled forty wersts, and stopped 
for the night at Severinovka. We put up at 
the posthouse kept by Jews. Without being 
fastidious, we might have found fault with the 
unclean state and impure air of the dwelling; 
but our chief want, warmth, was satisfied, and 
we cared little about the rest. The samovar 
(urn) is always ready in Russia, and it is the 
traveller’s fault if he is not provided with good 
tea and bread. He will generally find milk and 
eggs. He has therefore no occasion to consider 

f f 2 


436 


JEWS. 


himself very miserable. I 4° n °t think that the 
loud complaints about the horrors of Russian 
travelling, of which I heard much at Odessa, 
are justified. So much suffering is caused by 
the inclemency of the weather, that a warm 
room and a cup of hot tea make the traveller 
happy for the time ; and he is generally so tired 
by the jolting and the accidents on the miscalled 
roads, that sleep does not require to be wooed 
with many appliances. At Severinovka began 
our acquaintance with that singular race—the 
Jews, who have fastened on Poland and southern 
Russia like leeches. The posting and the con¬ 
sequent monopoly of administering to travellers’ 
wants, is entirely in their hands, and they are 
in general the retail venders of the beloved 
vodtka (corn-brandy), by which they bind the 
peasantry to them, body and soul. They are 
very repulsive. Their furniture seems a stranger 
to fresh air, and their dark clothing appears 
put on once and for ever. They are handsome 
rather than otherwise, but have a sallow and 
unwholesome look. They are avaricious and 
overreaching. The expression of their coun¬ 
tenances would indicate usury to very inex¬ 
perienced physiognomists. They always appear 
to be calculating. The counterfeit tales which 
they invent, and their enormous lying, in order 


JEWS. 


437 


to gain a few kopecks, are perfectly astounding 
to a western European, who is made melancholy 
by seeing human nature so degenerate. At the 
same time,shaving given the dark side of the 
picture, it is fair to say that travellers and 
others in Russia are greatly indebted to the 
Jews. I do not know what they would do 
without them, or who would supply their places. 
It requires the incentive of their love of petty 
gain to be ready in every village and hamlet to 
supply the wants of the passer-by. They also 
keep up the communications of the country, out 
of the line of the high roads; Jews’ carts, drawn 
by good horses, are met everywhere, and may 
be hired to go in any direction. A person 
wishing to travel across the country where there 
are no posthouses, has only occasion to put 
himself into the hands of the Jews, and he will 
be conveyed with speed and safety. When thus 
trusted, they are reckoned honest. They pass 
their charge from station to station, like a bale 
of goods, asking no questions till their contract 
is fulfilled. They are likewise very serviceable 
to troops on the march, by procuring them the 
means of transport. Thus they are necessary 
both to the public and the government, and 
though disliked and reviled, and living apart 
from the rest of the community, cannot be dis- 


438 


JEWS. 


pensed with. They are the freest and most 
independent of the subjects of Russia,—having 
no lands nor serfs, and carrying on a traffic 
which is not subject to much control,—having 
uo honours to lose nor aspiring after any, and 
yielding no other than a temporal obedience to 
the Czar,—having no political ambition, and 
therefore exciting no suspicion,—never inter¬ 
marrying with other sects, and therefore per¬ 
fectly undisturbed in their domestic life. They 
are despised by the bigotted Russo-Greeks, but 
return the compliment by despising them in a 
tenfold degree; they are bullied occasionally, but 
repay themselves by overreaching the country 
gentlemen in a hundred ways. The Russian 
Jewesses are not good-looking: they have sallow 
faces and are too fat. The custom of shaving 
off their hair when married is very ugly, and 
the substitute, a velvet Elizabethan-fashioned 
cap, thickly studded with mother-o’-pearl, is 
not becoming. The Mosaic law being unfavour¬ 
able to decency, the traveller is not surprised at 
seeing very little distinction between the sexes 
in their relations to each other, more particularly 
as that law is studied by girls as well as by boys. 

The second day, we travel seventy-eight wersts, 
and sleep at Yavorovo. The third day, at five 
in the afternoon, we reach Balta. Mr. Steiner, 


TROOPS. 


439 


my compagno7i de voyage , and myself, in the hope 
of obtaining a podoroshnaia (an order for post- 
horses), here left the voiturin, who continued 
his road. We made a great mistake : it was a 
fete day, and nobody could be induced to care 
about us. Apprehending some difficulty in a 
strange town, which might have led to our de¬ 
tention till inquiries should be made about us of 
the authorities at Odessa, we hired a Jew’s cart, 
and followed Mr. Werner. We overtook him at 
Pereima, a small village already occupied by a 
regiment of infantry on their march to Odessa. 
We therefore had particularly bad quarters. But 
we were repaid in the morning by the pretty 
sight of the various detachments issuing from 
the cottages to sound of music, and forming in 
line. They marched off in good order, with their 
baggage-wagons, etc. The men appeared strong 
and healthy ; there were only two sick among 
them. The country was covered with snow, and 
it must have been sharp work for them. We 
continued to meet bodies of infantry on the road. 
They were part of a division of 12,000 men 
which goes to Sevastopol every spring, and re¬ 
mains there till the winter, being employed in 
the interval on the fortifications. Twenty-five 
thousand men form the garrison of the Crimea, 
but owing to a want of barracks and the expense 


440 


PURCHASE. 


of fuel, one half is marched to winter quarters in 
the neighbourhood of Toultchine, in Podolia. 
Transporting this division from Odessa to Sevas¬ 
topol, and back again, gives occupation to a 
division of the fleet in spring and autumn. 

The next evening we reach Yabrochritska, and 
the following day at noon arrive at Toultchine, 
280 wersts (187 miles) from Odessa. Consider¬ 
ing that we had had the same horses, and that 
the roads were unusually execrable, we had not 
done amiss; but as there were still 422 wersts 
to perform, and as the road was likely to be 
worse every stage, in addition to the certainty 
that the horses could not improve, we adhered 
to our resolution of changing our conveyance. 
Toultchine being a place of some trade, we had 
a chance of succeeding. We announced to the 
Jews of the place our wish to purchase a britchka, 
and while they were settling among themselves 
who should have the honour of taking us in, we 
partook of a tolerable repast at a little Polish 
inn, which we found to be in every respect supe¬ 
rior to the Jews’ houses. Of late years, in the 
towns, Poles have entered into competition with 
the Jews as innkeepers; and the traveller would 
do well, on the chance of there being one, to 
order his postillions to drive him to the Polish 
inn. He will be sure to find there cleaner fare, 


PURCHASE. 


441 


more civility, and less extortion. After dinner 
we sallied out into the market-place to ascertain 
the result of our inquiries. Several vehicles 
were brought out for our inspection. It required 
no small degree of patience and some address in 
dealing with their owners. Moses was in his 
glory, and exerted himself most skilfully to make 
us choose the worst, declaring it to be the best, 
which he said would be apparent to us at once, 
were we not strangers. I believe we should 
have taken one which would soon have broken 
down ; but Mr. Werner, being more used to 
Jews’ assertions, saved us from committing so 
irreparable a mistake. We were not even then 
much farther advanced, for the members of the 
tribe were evidently in league to force a bad 
article on us at a high price. However, on 
perceiving at last that we were determined to 
continue our journey with the voiturin rather 
than submit to gross imposition, they brought 
out a strong, compact little britchka. It was 
just the thing; and after some further palaver, 
we agreed about the price. In our position we 
could not expect to combine goodness and cheap¬ 
ness ; we had secured the former, and that was 
the principal object. The next thing requisite 
was a podoroshnaia (order for post-horses); but 
for that purpose it was necessary to proceed to 


442 


FEES. 


Bratslaf, a police station seventeen wersts farther 
on, as nobody at Toultchine had the authority to 
supply us. We accordingly hired Jews’ horses, 
and, leaving Toultchine at six p. m., reached 
Bratslaf at about eight. We alighted at a com¬ 
fortable house belonging to a Jew, and through 
him put ourselves in communication with the 
master of the police. These two worthies per¬ 
fectly understood one another. They managed, 
by various excuses, to detain us till the next 
afternoon, and we only got out of their fangs by 
paying handsomely for what we required. We 
had been made aware in the evening of their 
indention to impose on us; that is, certain pro¬ 
ceedings made us infer it; and moved by unac¬ 
countable stupidity we resolved to resist. We 
ought to have known that they would eventually 
obtain their end, with the addition of delay and 
worry to us. I seriously recommend travellers 
in Russia to fee; in most cases it is the easiest 
and cheapest way. In matters too more serious 
than road obstacles, a timely fee may save one a 
vast deal of chicanery. Although the practice 
of accepting fees is morally wrong, it is never¬ 
theless advantageous in a country where despot¬ 
ism and suspicion create many difficulties into 
which the unwary may fall. It is said that 
justice cannot be obtained in Russia without a 


FEES. 


443 


bribe : it is some consolation to know that it 
may be obtained by means of one. If'we may 
believe half of what is related, no official rank in 
Russia is above the influence of the 4 ‘metallic 
communication.” It is said that when the 
Emperor Nicholas was at Berlin, in 1838, the 
minister for foreign affairs complained to him, 
that the ministers at St. Petersburgh would not 
come to a settlement about the rent of a hotel 
which had been taken for the Russian embassy: 
“ Leur avez-vous graisse les pattes ? ” quietly 
asked the Emperor ; “ moi-meme , je suis force de 
passer par la .” 

Mr. Steiner, who left the voiturin to accompany 
me, was a German; and was travelling to Vienna 
in order to be present at his sister’s marriage. 
Having calculated on reaching Brody with Mr. 
Werner, we were not provided with a necessary 
appendage, namely, a servant acquainted with 
Russian : our knowledge of tj*e language sufficed 
for communicating briefly with the postillions, 
who, however, only required vodtka (brandy)^ 
be whispered in their ears, to understand all our 
wishes; but was insufficient to discuss a point 
with any one who might find it convenient to 
misapprehend us. But as we had several other 
languages at command, we did not fear any 
great inconvenience on that account. The Jews, 


444 


ROAD. 


in general, in southern Russia, speak German; 
and the few who are ignorant of that language, 
understand Turkish more or less. At the same 
time, all the lingual powers of Cardinal Mezzo- 
fanti # would not have saved us from being 
handsomely imposed on at Bratslaf: we might 
have had more talk for our money, but must 
have paid as much. 

We left Bratslaf at half-past two in the after¬ 
noon, and reached Voronitza, 38 wersts off, at 
half-past six. Our first essay of accelerated 
travelling was by no means pleasant; we deemed 
it utterly impossible for any carriage to hold out 
long, exposed to such varieties of pressure, fric¬ 
tion, and jolting: at times, all the strength of 
four horses was required to drag our light vehicle 
through a deep adhesive mixture of snow and 
mud; at other times, a piece of open ground 
gave the postillion an opportunity of galloping 
ventre a terre for a mile or two; the carriage 

7 O 

bounding over inequalities and ditches like a ball 
of India-rubber: occasionally we came to a cause¬ 
way, which, having been cut up by traineaux , 

* Cardinal Mezzofanti speaks twenty-two languages, 
although he has never quitted the Roman states. A Hun¬ 
garian, and an Ottoman, assured me, that he conversed 
with them in Hungarian and Turkish, with correctness and 
fluency. 


ROAD. 


445 


resembled a strip of frozen ploughed land, and 
then every step seemed to threaten demolition to 
the britchka , and dislocation to our bones. Such 
being the state of things, and night coming on, 
we ought to have stopped at Voronitza; but not 
liking to make so short a day, and Vinnitza 
being only twenty-two wersts off, we ordered 
fresh horses and drove on. We soon repented. 
The road was a causeway, or strip of ploughed 
land, as above described, just the width of a 
carriage. On either side was a deep bed of 
snow. While daylight lasted, we contrived to 
keep on the track, at a foot pace; but in the 
first hour of darkness, we were upset twice in 
the snow, rolling nearly over. The fatigue of 
righting the carriage w 7 as immense; the per¬ 
spiration ran off our brows, although a bleak 
metel (a north-east snow squall) was blinding us. 
We lost three hours by these accidents. The 
efforts too of the horses to drag their burden on 
the road again, nearly exhausted their strength. 
We clearly perceived that a third flounder in 
the snow would knock them up entirely, and 
compel us to pass the night out, for which we 
were ill prepared. It was evident that our 
driver, the night being pitch dark, could not 
manage to keep the leaders straight, and look to 
his wheels at the same time; default of which 


446 


ROAD. 


we kept slipping oflf the road. We therefore 
mounted him on the leaders; I took the reins of 
the wheelers; and Steiner kept his eyes fixed on 
the track, in order to warn us when we were too 
much on the right or the left. We crept along 
in this way for several wersts; and were congra¬ 
tulating ourselves on the result of our skill, 
when, unseen by us till the leaders nearly 
knocked their heads against ours, a carriage 
and six approached us from the opposite direc¬ 
tion. Here was a pretty dilemma. One party 
or the other would have to give way, and which¬ 
ever got off the road was certain to remain 
embedded in the snow till morning, when extra 
horses might be procured. Our enemy called 
out in an authoritative voice, that he was a 
colonel, and bid our postillion make way forth¬ 
with: in reply, we shouted the name of General 
L-, an Odessa friend, well known in mili¬ 

tary circles. We waited in anxious suspense 
the result of our pardonable ruse, and in a few 
minutes, to our inexpressible joy, saw the colo¬ 
nel’s leaders turning off. It was a pretty sight 
to see the horses pawing the snow, which emitted 
phosphoric sparks, as if fearful of advancing: 
a touch on their flanks decided them; they 
plunged in up to their bellies, dragging the 
wheelers after them, and the carriage sank in 



ADVENTURE. 


447 


above the axletrees. What an escape for us! 
We heard the shouting of the colonel’s people, 
and the cracking of their whips, in the probable 
vain attempt to extricate his carriage, till we 
were out of hearing. At half-past two in the 
morning, we reached Vinnitza, in an unenviable 
state; we had been eight hours, in a night of 
unusual severity, performing twenty-two wersts 
(fifteen miles). There was a smart goodnatured 
Polish lad at the posthouse. He immediately 
made us some tea, which commenced our revival. 
We then sat down on the floor, and fell asleep 
with our backs resting against the stove. This 
thawed our limbs, and brought us into a condi¬ 
tion to continue our journey at six o’clock; with 
the resolution to abstain from night-travelling 
in future, and to have six horses. 

At the next stage, Litini, twenty-nine wersts 
on, we had a characteristic adventure with the 
postmaster. He was the most Shylock-looking 
Jew imaginable. He ascertained at once that 
we were greenhorns; and in his own mind 
appropriated our nice britchka for his own use. 
Having examined our podoroshnaia (post-horse 
order), he observed that no mention of a britchka 
was made in it, and consequently he was not 
authorized to put horses to it; he would have 
the kindness to sell us his britchka , which should 


448 


JEW. 


be inserted in our podoroshnaia , or we might take 
a periclodnoi (post-cart). We were so unpre¬ 
pared for this special effrontery, that we hardly 
knew whether to laugh or be angry: we thought 
the fellow was joking. He soon, however, con¬ 
vinced us that he was in nefarious earnest. We 
had expected imposition in many ways, but the 
idea of such a demand had never crossed our 
minds. We felt quite dismayed. We tried to 
reason with him, and offered to pay for extra 
horses gratis. No arguments moved him. He 
wanted our britchka , which we could not part 
with : the britchka offered in exchange would 
soon probably have broken down, and travelling 
in a periclodnoi was out of the question. And our 
britchka! we asked. 44 1 will give you something 
for it,” replied the Jew. O villain! we exclaimed. 
It would have given us both the greatest pleasure 
to have beaten him to a jelly. We then inquired 
for the police-master as our only resource. 44 You 
may go to him,” said the Hebrew, 44 but he will 
not understand you ; he speaks no language but 
Russian.” We went to his house. We found 
him transacting business with two clerks. He 
was civil, but as the Jew had truly said, was only 
master of his own language, and Steiner’s Rus¬ 
sian proved quite inadequate for our purpose. 
The Jew had calculated on this. In despair, I 


JEW. 


449 


looked out of window : an officer was passing at 
the moment in a pavosk, with the air of a man 
acquainted with some civilized tongue. I ran 
to the door and stopped him. I addressed him 
in French : to my joy he replied in the same 
language ; and having heard our story in a few 
words, politely consented to act as cur inter¬ 
preter. The police-master, on being made ac¬ 
quainted with the case, admitted that we were 
wronged ; he directed a soldier to accompany us 
to the posthouse, with an order to supply us 
with horses. The Jew flatly refused obedience, 
and went in his turn to the police office to explain 
the law, as he said. He succeeded in his object, 
and returned triumphant in a quarter of an hour 
with a counter order. We could not believe our 
ears. I became so angry, that I had no way 
of relieving myself but by kicking the Jew about 
the yard for five minutes, to the great delight of 
the postillions, who were on our side in virtue of 
the vodtka we had given them. We then repaired 
to the police office again. The officer who had 
interpreted for us was fortunately still there. We 
remonstrated with the police-master for having 
deceived us, and expressed our surprise that his 
order in our favour should have been disregarded. 
He excused himself by saying that he had not 
known the law, which the Jew had since explained 


G G 


450 


JEW. 


to him. “ We do not know,” we continued, 
u what the law is in Russia, nor do we believe 
that there is a law so absurd as to empower a 
postmaster to deprive a traveller of his carriage, 
because he chooses to take a fancy to it, but, 
whether there is such a regulation or not, we 
know that were we in your place, and any ras¬ 
cally Jew dared to disobey our order, right or 
wrong, we would inflict on him the severest 
punishment in our power.” This allusion to 
the disregard of his authority put up the func¬ 
tionary’s back, and being followed by an inti¬ 
mation that we might feel called upon to make a 
representation of our treatment to St. Peters- 
burgh, brought him to reason. He summoned a 
sergeant, and sent another and a more stringent 
order to put horses to our britchka. This time 
the Jew obeyed, though with infinite ill will. We 
reviled the rascal, and galloped off elated with 
our victory. I need scarcely observe that the 
description of a traveller’s carriage is not re¬ 
quired in his podoroshnaia, which relates simply 
to horses. 

We arrived at Vedjiboye just after 130 houses 
had been burned down. Faithful to our determi¬ 
nation to stop at night, we sleep there. We con¬ 
tinue our journey early next morning, and by 
evening reach Stary Constantinoff, a place of a 


MUD. 


45J 

superior aspect, though bad enough, to any that 
we had been used to. Polish 'and Russian 
country towns noways resemble similar places 
in western Europe. They are collections of 
houses placed without any regard to order, or 
as far as we could see, to convenience. The 
streets are not paved, and are at certain sea¬ 
sons therefore nearly impassable from mud, 
while, in dry weather, the dust is intolerable. 
Owing to the convergence of roads, the entrance 
to a town in wet weather is a bog, and is the 
place where a traveller usually sticks fast, or 
what is a worse disaster, finds the passage 
blocked up by a cart from which the oxen have 
been removed after vainly endeavouring to extri¬ 
cate it. On leaving a town, fresh horses con¬ 
trive to drag their burden through; but after 
a long stage the traveller has a chance of find¬ 
ing his wheels completely arrested by the mud 
within a short distance of the posthouse. He is 
often obliged to send for extra horses, or oxen, 
to draw him a few hundred yards. The Russian 
towns are more ornamental than the Polish, on 
account of their churches, which are often well 
built and pretty. Polish country churches are 
singularly ugly : they consist of three wooden 
towers, like misshapen pepper-boxes, stuck to¬ 
gether, with a fourth, used for a belfry, standing 
by itself a short way off. g g 2 


452 


JEW. 


We obtained comfortable quarters at Stary 
Constantinoff. Our host was, as usual, a Hebrew. 
He was a civil man ; at the same time had the 
bump of acquisitiveness as strongly developed in 
him as in any of his brethren. He also cast 
longing eyes upon our britc/ika ; indeed the Jews 
along our road seemed reluctant to let it quit 
Russia, for to the last we were importuned to 
sell it, at a low price Lien entendu. He did not 
however, like his colleague at Litini, attempt to 
carry his point by audacity ; but wove an artful 
tale about the impossibility of our proceeding 
with any speed except in a sledge : he averred 
that the ground as far as RadzivilofF was hard 
frozen, and that a carriage would be of no use. 
Perceiving that we were rather slow of giving 
belief to his words, he went out and returned 
with some carriers, who swore to the same story. 
Having thus brought us into a disposition to 
regard our britchka with less affection, he ob¬ 
served that, although the thing would be of no 
service to him, rather than know his honourable 
guests suffer a great inconvenience, he would 
purchase it, and sell us a sledge to perform the 
remainder of our journey, 190 wersts. We 
nearly swallowed the bait. We had experienced 
the want of a sledge for about 30 wersts before 
reaching Stary Constantinoff, and were thereby 


JEW. 


453 


enabled to form an idea of our progress on the 
other side, if the road should continue in the 
same state. Steiner voted for closing the bargain 
instantly: I nearly agreed ; but having taken a 
rooted prejudice against a Jew’s word, I de¬ 
manded an hour's consideration. In that im¬ 
portant hour we drunk sundry cups of super- 
excellent tea, and discussed the pros and cons. 
The result was unfavourable to the Jew. We 
considered, first, that the Jew, in buying our 
britchka cheap and selling us his sledge dear, 
at the end of winter, would make an enviable 
bargain,—therefore was interested in deceiving 
us about the road ; secondly, that if the Jew’s 
account of the snow should prove false, after a 
few wersts we should find ourselves in a most 
awkward predicament, in possession of a useless 
sledge, and lamenting our folly in having 
parted with our carriage. We should have to 
abandon the sledge, and travel in a periclodnoi 
(post-cart) which would infallibly knock us up. 
When our host learned our determination, he 
politely gave us to understand that we were a 
couple of donkeys, and that instead of reaching 
Radziviloff in a day and a half, as we expected, 
we should have a journey of four days. He 
reiterated his assertions, and offered to bring all 
the town to swear that the road was sledgeable 


454 


RUSSIAN 


the whole way. Steiner, who was in a hurry to 
reach Vienna, on this gave renewed symptoms 
of surrendering to the Jew’s oratory, and nearly 
quarrelled with me because I would not alter 
my opinion. However, he thanked me next 
day. As a middle course, and as a relief to our 
conscience, in case the Jew’s words should prove 
correct, we suffered him to fit a sledge to the 
britchka ,—and thus provided against all casual¬ 
ties, we left Starv Constantinoff at six in the 
morning. 

We might have progressed pretty rapidly for 
a short distance with a simple sledge ; but the 
snow was not sufficiently firm to bear one laden 
with a vehicle, and this shewed us at once that 
the continuance of a sledge-track could not be 
reckoned on. Thus it turned out. At the end 
of twelve wersts our sledge apparatus broke to 
pieces, causing us an hour’s delay on a bleak 
plain to mount the britchka again ; and before 
making thirty wersts we came to a tolerable 
good road for wheels, which lasted all the way 
to Radziviloff, with the exception of patches of 
snow here and there. In one of them we met 
with an accident which afforded us an oppor¬ 
tunity of seeing the justly extolled mechanical 
skill and handiness of the peasants. We had 
stuck fast. The vehicle being very light, how- 


PEASANTS. 


455 


ever, with six fresh horses, the postillions en¬ 
deavoured to drag thrbugh without getting 
assistance to clear away the snow. The horses 
were powerful animals: they made desperate 
efforts, and finished by tearing away the splinter 
bar. We were fortunately close to a village. 
Some of the inhabitants came to our assistance, 
each with a short hatchet in his girdle, and 
immediately set to work; they cut down a young 
pine, fashioned it into shape, fitted it on with 
rope, and in an hour and a half the britchka 
was as serviceable though not so elegant as 
before. 

The Russian peasants turn their hands to any¬ 
thing, and have a remarkable facility at learning 
arts. This is particularly seen in the army. When 
conscripts join a regiment, the colonel says to 
one, “ you are to be a shoemaker; ” to another, 
“ you are to be a tailor; ” to another, “ you are 
to be a buglerthey are put under tuition, and 
in a year’s time a good shoemaker, tailor, and 
bugler, are produced out of three rough peasant 
lads. I was also astonished at the skill of the pos¬ 
tillions, which is displayed to a remarkable degree 
where five horses are put to a carriage. The 
driver sits on the near wheeler, and guides the 
three leaders, harnessed abreast, with a loose 
rein; he has to look to the safety of the carriage 



456 


DRIVING. 


on roads where to swerve a foot to the right or 
the left may overturn it, to maintain himself 
on his horse which is slipping about, to keep 
the three unblinked leaders, barely tied to one 
another, in their course, and—singing, halloing, 
and cracking his whip—gallop along at the rate 
of twelve miles an hour. The postillion who 
drove us from Ostrog to Tooltcha displayed such 
faultless address, that had I been a believer in 
the metempsychosis, I should have fancied him 
possessed of the soul of an Olympic charioteer; 
though no charioteer in Greece had ever so 
difficult a course to drive over. Our road lay 
through a forest, occasionally along the edge of 
a deep ravine : at first, we were in great appre¬ 
hension, either of rolling in the ditch, or of 
being shattered to pieces against a tree; but the 
skill of the driver soon tranquillised us, and we 
sat back in quiet admiration of his matchless per¬ 
formance, scarcely thinking of our narrow escape 
every five minutes of having our necks broken. 
At one place, at the bottom of a declivity down 
which we were driving at the rate of thirteen 
miles an hour, it was necessary to turn sharp to 
the right, round a projecting tree, in order to 
avoid a ditch which lay before us. At the criti¬ 
cal moment the driver’s horse stumbled and all 
but fell; instead of pitching over his head, as 


driving. 


457 


we expected, he recovered his steed, and in the 
same breath turned his three leaders at a right 
angle, the wheelers and carriage following in 
safety. Our restrained breath found utterance 
in a simultaneous bravo, followed by the more 
grateful word vodtka. It was sunset when we 
arrived at Toultcha, or I should have been 
disposed to retrace my steps to Ostrog for the 
pleasure of seeing the same driving repeated. 

Our last day’s journey in Russia, from Toul¬ 
tcha to Radziviloff, was trying and painful. A 
bleak snow-storm blew in our faces, and seriously 
impeded our progress ; we were overturned once, 
and wound up our disasters by breaking our pole. 
We were, however, only five wersts from our 
destination, and managed to reach it by five 
p. m. We alighted at a comfortable inn of small 
dimensions, kept by one Joachim Sax, which 
I recommend to all travellers. The neatness, 
cleanliness, and attention to our wants, reminded 
me of an English village inn. A fortnight before 
our arrival, my gallant friend Sir Henry Bethune 
had passed through Radziviloff on his way home 
through Russia from Persia. At Kief the gover¬ 
nor had given him an aid-de-camp to accompany 
him to the frontier; ostensibly to do him honour, 
but in reality, I presume, to see him well out of 
Russia. 


458 


SURPRISE. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


SURPRISE — BRODY—CHARACTERISTICS—LEMBERG—PARADE 

- PODGORZ -CRACOW-POLISH WAR-JEWS-KOSCIUS- 

KO’S TUMULUS-THE POLES. 

Haying quitted the voiturin at Toultchine in 
order to accomplish our journey in less time, 
and having spared neither roubles nor fatigue to 
get on, our surprise may be conceived, when, 
the morning after our arrival at Radziviloff, Mr. 
Werner walked into our apartment with a smile 
of mocking triumph on his lips. We looked at 
him a few minutes, rubbed our eyes, and asked 
some questions, before being able to satisfy our¬ 
selves that it was Werner in flesh and blood. 
We then cried a miracle, for it never entered 
our thoughts that he was come without his horses. 
After amusing himself at our expense for some 
minutes, he told us, that becoming also tired of 
slow travelling, he had left his carriage at Bratslaf 
in charge of his servant and another passenger, 


EXPLANATION. 


459 


and putting himself in the hands of the Jews, 
had followed us day and night. This accounted 
for his unexpected appearance, but left unex¬ 
plained his unbusiness-like conduct of forsaking 
his carriage and horses. His spruce garb and 
jocund air, coupled with his general admiration 
of the fair sex, made us think there was some¬ 
thing more in this proceeding than met the eye. 
He was dressed in a gay Hungarian costume, 
with military boots, and looked as martial and 
valiant as a field-marshal. He asked leave to 
accompany us to Brody, because, as he observed, 
he should cut a better figure with us than in a 
Jew’s cart. We agreed with pleasure; and after 
breakfast drove to the frontier. We were let 
through the barrier between Russia and Austria, 
after a slight and civil inspection, and in half 
an hour felt on the paved streets of Brody that 
we were again in a civilized land. We drove 
rapidly through to the Hotel de Russie, at 
the door of which stood a fair young German, 
smiling as if to welcome the strangers: her 
brightening eyes and joyful exclamation at see¬ 
ing Werner, who replied by jumping down at 
her feet, at once explained the mystery wdiicli 
had puzzled us. Vive Vamour! Here we had a 
voiturin, near sixty years old, leaving his car¬ 
riage, horses, and passengers in the snow, and 


460 


BRODY. 


travelling day and night in a Jew’s cart,—and 
all for love. We saw no more of Mr. Werner. 

Brody abounds with Jews. Our rooms were 
shortly filled by a tribe, inviting us to sell all 
that we possessed, and to buy their wares instead. 
We had gained sufficient experience of the race 
to be able to repel them; and having a letter to 
M. Dogranly, a Greek merchant, we had no 
occasion for their “ disinterested ” services, to 
change our karbovanks (silver roubles) into Ger¬ 
man money. I went after dinner to see M. 
Dogranly, and found him residing in a pleasant 
house on the outskirts of the town. I passed 
a couple of agreeable hours in his company, 
while his clerk was procuring me ducats, which 
are the most convenient coin for a traveller. He 
was a widower, and had a family of three sons 
and two daughters. I was surprised at the 
polished education which the young ladies had 
received in such a place as Brody; they spoke 
Greek, German, and French fluently, and were 
good musicians; while their dress and address 
did credit to their governess, a German lady. 
The Greeks, with all their parsimony and habits 
of self-denial, spare no expense on the education 
of their children; and this redeems a great 
many bad qualities. I have never seen any 
people set so much value on instruction, or take 


BRODY. 


461 


more pains to ensure it for their children. It is 
not uncommon to see Greeks, settled in New 
Russia, send their sons to Paris for education. 
This is also a characteristic of the Polish upper 
classes, though, owing to their different position, 
education with them is less practical: the Poles 
are gentlemen; the Greeks are traders: the 
former are brought up to grace a fortune; the 
latter to acquire one. M. Dogranly informed me 
that Brody was a place of considerable trade 
during the early part of the century. Napoleon’s 
Russian wars brought great wealth to it. At 
present, its commerce is inconsiderable: the 
frontier is so well guarded on both sides, that 
the contraband trade with Russia, which formerly 
flourished, has nearly disappeared. 

The next day we travelled to Lemberg. The 
distance from Brody is 40 miles, and the road 
is good. We found the climate sensibly milder 
than on the other side of the frontier; owing, 
I presume, to more general cultivation, and the 
more enclosed state of the country. A great 
moral change is also perceived in entering 
Germany from Russia. Instead of duplicity, in¬ 
civility, and spoliation, frankness, kindness, and 
probity are met with. A traveller in Russia is 
considered fair game for every one to run down: 
in Germany he is assisted like a fellow-creature. 


462 


LEMBERG. 


There is little difference, except in form, in 
the treatment experienced by travellers from 
the Russian employes and from the Bedouins: 
in principle it is alike; pay or be harassed. 
The Bedouin extorts your money by threats; 
the Russian abstracts it by delay and documents: 
the former acts on your fears, the latter practises 
on your patience. A remarkable difference is 
also observed in the mendicity, which, as exist¬ 
ing in Galicia, struck us painfully after the total 
absence of any in Russia. From Odessa to 
Radziviloff, a distance of near 470 miles, we were 
not once asked for alms, nor did we remark an 
individual in distress: the peasants were all 
substantially clad, and apparently well fed; and 
their habitations seemed warm and comfortable. 
Of course, in a great corn growing, thinly 
peopled country, it would be difficult to want 
food, save in seasons of famine; and the lower 
classes being serfs, their masters are bound to 
support them in sickness and old age: self- 
interest prompts this proceeding, and in the 
absence of that motive, the law enforces attention 
to the wants of the peasantry. A Russian noble 
possesses serfs on the tacit condition of taking 
care of them. 

Lemberg or Leopol is a large, handsome, and 
improving city, worthy of having an archduke 


LEMBERG. 


463 


for its governor. It has nearly 60,000 inhabi¬ 
tants, of whom one third are Jews, who monopo¬ 
lize the trade of the place, which is considerable. 
It is the seat of three archbishops ; respectively, 
the Roman Catholic, United Greek, and Ar¬ 
menian persuasions; and there is a handsome 
synagogue. The Roman Catholic is the most 
palmy of the religions, to judge by the fine 
churches, in one of which, the Dominicans, is a 
monument, by Thorwaldsen, of a Polish lady. 
As our hotel was exceedingly good, we remained 
three days in the capital of Galicia, as much to 
recruit ourselves after our journey as to see the 
place, which was the extreme point of Ottoman 
conquest in Austria from the side of Poland. 
The evening after our arrival we went to the 
Italian Opera to hear I Puritani , and to our sur¬ 
prise found in 44 Sir Arthur ” the husband of 
Madame Frisch, the prima donna at Odessa. We 
made his acquaintance, and engaged him to dine 
with us next day, in order to give him news of 
the success of his cara sposa. Besides the Opera, 
there are two theatres in Lemberg, one for Polish 
and the other for German plays. I never before 
heard the Polish language on the stage. About 
a fortnight earlier some Polish students had 
made a disturbance in this theatre, by distribut¬ 
ing and singing patriotic songs; about twenty 


464 


LEMBERG. 


of them were arrested, and placed in temporary 
confinement. Polish is much spoken in Galicia: 
the attempts of Russia to replace it by Russian 
among her Polish subjects will therefore be fruit¬ 
less. A language cannot be eradicated while 
it continues to be spoken in adjoining provinces. 
The Polish language is regularly taught in the 
university of Lemberg, and in the public library 
there is a valuable collection of Polish literature. 
Three languages are in vogue at Lemberg: Ger¬ 
man, French, and Polish, and occasionally Latin. 
Some of the law proceedings are still conducted 
in Latin. The cabinet of Vienna does not appear 
to be alive to the importance of making the 
German language authoritative in all parts of 
the empire : we are now suffering, in Canada, 
the penalty of such an omission, with respect to 
English. Russia leaves no means untried to get 
her language adopted everywhere under her rule, 
and does not hesitate to add pressure to induce¬ 
ment: no other language is authoritative, and 
the acquisition of it forms a part of education in 
every school, whether the boys are of German, 
Polish, Greek, or any other origin. Official 
requisitions, announcements, regulations, etc., 
must be in Russian, which is very inconvenient 
in the southern provinces, where numbers of the 
inhabitants are settlers from other countries : but 
it will be unfelt by their sons. 


PARADE. 


465 


A grand parade on the Emperor’s birthday 
(April 19th) shewed us the finest-looking body 
of troops I ever set eyes on; tall, stout, well- 
dressed men. They formed a double line in the 
principal streets through which the Archduke 
John, the governor, and the authorities passed on 
their way to the cathedral to assist at high mass. 
It was a brilliant military display. I believe 
that the regiments stationed in Galicia are the 
elite of the Austrian army. In the evening the 
archduke gave a grand dinner at the palace, to 
the authorities, civil and military; no doubt, all 
“the delicacies of the season” were on the table; 
but we outside had much better entertainment 
in listening to two splendid bands, of seventy 
musicians each, which played alternately under 
the windows of the banqueting room. In all 
their large towns the Austrians enjoy gratis the 
finest music, under the best auspices ; it is no 
wonder that the people are musical. Russian 
military bands have also numerous instruments; 
but are inferior, excepting in their horns, which, 
when played in the open air, on a calm autumn 
evening especially, produce a sublime eflect. 

Leaving Mr. Steiner at Lemberg, I continued 
my journey alone. On the second day I reached 
Podgorze, till lately a suburb of Cracow. By 
the treaty of Vienna, Podgorze was included 

H H 


466 


CRACOW. 


in the republic, but the last Polish struggle 
gave Austria a pretext for taking it for herselfo 
Russia also nibbled a bit off the free teriitory. 
Prussia acted honourably, and left her frontier 
where it was. Having parleyed with the Austrian 
authorities at Podgorze, I crossed the Vistula on 
a wooden bridge into Cracow, at the entrance of 
which a police agent relieved me of my pass¬ 
port, and directed me to a good inn, called the 
“Rose,” kept by a Roman. I met there at 
dinner General Klopicky, wno was dictator at 
the commencement of the Polish war in 1830. 
The office was forced upon him; unfortunately, as 
it turned out, because his want of confidence in 
the cause weakened it. There can be no doubt, 
from all that I have heard, that if the Poles had 
been more united, success would have crowned 
their struggle for independence; but the luke¬ 
warmness of some, and the miserable jealousies 
of others about precedence, marred their best 
plans. General Klopicky was wounded in the 
first battle between the Poles and Russians, at 
Grokhoff: he retired to Cracow, where he has 
since resided on his parole. He receives a 
stipend from the Russian government, and has 
a pension for a French Order. The Cracovians 
witnessed the last scene of the tragedy : the 
remnant of the Polish army, 7000 in number, 


CRACOW. 


467 


retreated, pursued by the Russian army, through 
Cracow into Galicia; and there laid down its 
arms. Zainosk held out a short time longer; 
and at length capitulated, on condition that the 
garrison, about 3000 strong, should be allowed 
to return home. The Russians violated their en¬ 
gagement: when they had obtained possession of 
the fortress, they declared that such of the garrison 
as were natives of Volhynia and Podolia, were 
excluded from the benefits of the capitulation. 
Above 300 individuals were condemned to forced 
labour in Siberia: one of them, an acquaintance 
of mine, Colonel Raczynsky, escaped when on 
the way to his destination. His brother, a fellow 
captive, was less fortunate. 

From that time Cracow became necessarily an 
object of suspicion to the three monarchies sur¬ 
rounding it; its nominal liberty was a startling- 
exception, dangerous to be tolerated. Sympathy 
on the part of the inhabitants with the discomfited 
Poles was taken for granted ; plots in their favour 
were assumed, conspiracies talked of; and while 
the senate endeavoured to maintain its.rights, 
the high protecting powers secretly determined 
that it should have none. This state of suspense 
was put an end to in three years by the occu¬ 
pation of the republic by the troops of the Con¬ 
ference, whereupon the independence of Cracow 

h h 2 



468 


CRACOW. 


virtually ceased to exist. The Russian and 
Prussian troops left the city after a short time, 
leaving a battalion of Austrians as a permanent 
garrison. There are also a few Cracovian 
soldiers for police duty. It has been stated that 
Cracow pays and maintains the Austrian garri¬ 
son: this is not correct: Austria, as she ought, 
bears the sole expense, amounting to 15,000 
florins a month, a sum which is of service to 
the town in the present state of its trade. 

The appearance of the city of Cracow is at once 
feudal and dilapidated, in strict keeping with 
the high and mournful associations awakened by 
its history. Castle, donjon, gothic church, and 
Italian facade, are intermingled without any re¬ 
gard to order or taste. There are about 30,000 
inhabitants, of whom 9000 are Jews. Graduated 
poverty is the general feature of the place. I saw 
only two or three antiquated vehicles, and not 
one well dressed or good-looking woman. There 
is a theatre, where Polish plays are acted. 

Cracow is termed the remnant of the inde¬ 
pendence of the Polish nation: it is that, but 
appears rather the remnant, and a ragged one, 
of the kingdom of the Jews. The Jews are 
here, as elsewhere in eastern Europe, reviled 
and tolerated; a necessary evil, and a doubtful 
benefit to the country which they have chosen 


CRACOW. 


469 

for their domicile. I should like to know the 
numbers of Hebrews in the world, and compare 
them with the state of the population of Judea in 
sacred days; I think we should be surprised to 
find that they have increased under persecutions 
and trials of all descriptions. We could not at 
present ascertain the whole number, because, ac¬ 
cording to my friend Mr. Joseph Wolffe, several 
of the ten tribes are missing; although where 
existing the learned and zealous missionary has 
not been able to discover in his wanderings. 

Cracow has declined in all ways from its 
former high renown: the famous Jagellonic 
university has sunk into a common-place school, 
where natural history, chemistry, theology, and 
civil law, are taught by various professors. Two 
museums, one of minerals, the other of natural 
history, are in the same building. The former 
is well arranged. I saw in the latter a mummy 
in a state of high preservation; sent from Egypt 
in 1835, by M. Bystrzanowsky, a polish refugee 
in the service of Mehemet Ali, as a token of 
respect for the place where he had received his 
education. 

Cracow possesses some fine churches. St. 
Anne’s church has a monument to the memory 
of Copernicus, who is said to have been a Craco- 
vian ; of which, however ; there is not any direct 





470 


POLES. 


evidence ; though, as no city disputes with Cra¬ 
cow the honour of having given birth to the 
celebrated astronomer, we may as well take it 
for granted. The monument was erected by a 
Polish noble not many years ago : Urania is 
crowning her favourite son, and on a tablet the 
Copernican system is delineated. 

The cathedral, which is rich in gold and silver 
ornaments beyond most churches in Europe, 
never having been plundered, possesses in the 
traveller’s eyes, greater treasures in the tombs, 
richly decorated, of many Polish kings and other 
worthies renowned in history. In its vaults are 
seen the stone coffins of John Sobieski, of Thad- 
deus Kosciusko, and of Joseph Poniatowsky. 
Kosciusko has a nobler monument, one mile 
from the city, visible from a distance on every 
side, raised by the devotion of a generous people. 
The Emperor Alexander, in one of his liberal 
moods gave, in 1817, to Cracow, the bones of 
the Polish hero; and the senate immediately 
resolved that—as the most fitting memorial—a 
mound should be raised of earth brought from 
all the celebrated battle-fields of the Poles. The 
nobles, clergy, and people of Cracow, indiscrimi- 
nately joined in the task; men, women, and 
children vied with each other in carrying the 
sacred soil to the destined spot; and in 1820, 


POLES. 


471 


a tumulus. 150 feet high, was completed, and 
inaugurated with becoming solemnity. It will 
keep alive the resentment and patriotism of the 
Poles, and serve on some future day to stimulate 
the ardour of another Kosciusko. 

Another Kosciusko will appear; the sun of 
independence will again shine on Poland, if her 
sons will be prudent, and “ bide their time;” 
bend like the willow to the storm which they 
cannot resist. They have fought and fallen, 
and must suffer the consequences of defeat: but 
let them do so without openly bewailing their 
fate, and trust in their good cause for redemp¬ 
tion. Patience and prudence are their surest 
weapons. Inopportune resistance and discontent 
will rivet their bonds the firmer. Every emissary 
sent to Poland—every patriotic letter written by 
exiles to their friends at home—every public 
demonstration in their favour in western Europe, 
furnishes the Czar with a pretext for oppressing 
them more. Russia is now too strong: let the 
Poles wait till her day of weakness arrives. I do 
not ask them to hug their chains, but to refrain, 
for the present, from clanking them in the ears of 
their oppressors. Revenge, to be effectual, must 
sleep at times the deep sleep as though of death. 
The noble-hearted friends of Poland, who give 
dinners and make liberal speeches in Paris and 




472 


POLES. 


London, with the view of keeping alive the in¬ 
terest in the Poles, perhaps injure the cause 
instead of serving it. I speak from some per¬ 
sonal knowledge of the subject, when I venture 
to say, that nearly every exhibition of sympathy 
and indignation on behalf of this betrayed and 
gallant people, is the signal for the Russian 
government to act with increased rigour towards 
them, and thereby diminishes the chance of a 
successful struggle being made for liberty when 
the favourable moment shall arrive. Such ex¬ 
citement is not required to sustain the energy 
of the Poles; if it were, their cause would be 
hopeless. Their wrongs are too deeply seated 
to be forgotten; their sense of nationality is 
too ardent; their hope of revenge is too care¬ 
fully transmitted from father to son, and from 
mother to daughter, to leave any cause for 
apprehension that they will fail being true to 
themselves in due time. Their language and 
chivalrous feelings, preserved amidst the contact 
of Russians, Prussians, and Austrians, assure us 
that they will not readily cease to be a nation at 

heait, and their icligion the Catholic religion_ 

is a guarantee for their receiving wise counsel 
and hopeful sympathy. Rome never forgets her 
children, least of all those who live under a 
government professing another creed: she keeps 


POLES. 


473 


her eyes upon them; her agents silently mingle 
with them to confirm them in her doctrines, and 
prevent them from yielding a willing obedience 
to any rule which is not identified with her. 
While ground to the earth by tyrannous laws, 
and apparently abandoned by justice, a subdued 
Catholic population still receives comfort from 
Rome; it turns to her for consolation, and her 
priests keep alive the hope that their bonds will 
one day or another be riven: while severed from 
her in a temporal sense, their obedience to her 
spiritual rule grows the stronger. This is 
Poland’s chief defence against Russia: Rome is 
her sure ally. But the Poles must also assist 
themselves, by depriving their masters of specious 
pretexts for weakening them still farther by pro¬ 
scriptions and confiscations, and by separating 
themselves as little as possible from the land of 
their fathers. The emigrants and travellers who 
spend their time and money in Paris, Italy, and 
the German watering-places, ought rather to 
reside in the Polish provinces of Austria and 
Prussia: there, their language is spoken, their 
national drama is represented, their songs are 
heard, their literature is studied; everything, in 
short, tends to maintain, nearly unimpaired, their 
sense of national feeling, which must decline in 
a greater or less degree in foreign lands. They 



474 


CRACOW. 


need not fear that their absence will extinguish 
the sympathy of civilized Europe in their be¬ 
half: that will be pronounced energetically and 
unanimously when they again have an oppor¬ 
tunity to proclaim their rights ; but till then, as 
I before observed, the expression of it is injuri¬ 
ous to them. They ought especially to regard 
Cracow with affection, and reside there if prac¬ 
ticable ; render their wealth, talents and influ¬ 
ence subservient to its prosperity ; and make it 
ao-ain the seat of learning and of the arts. They 
may render Cracow, however small it may be, 
an important spot in the eyes of civilized and 
educated Europe, with claims to consideration 
beyond political views : that will preserve its 
independence, and form a nucleus for the regene¬ 
ration of Poland at the fitting hour. Let the 
Poles shew themselves truly great in their mis¬ 
fortunes, by living nobly, and cultivating the 
arts of peace in a spot which is Polish in name 
and reality; let them shew the world that they 
are capable of governing themselves, and making 
a country happy and prosperous; and the opi¬ 
nion in their favour, then resting on a sure foun¬ 
dation, will acquire strength every year, and 
secure to Cracow the respect of her powerful 
neighbours. The ultimate recovery of their 
position as a nation may then be anticipated, 


CRACOW. 


475 


and not in vain will the tumulus of Kosciusko 
have been raised. 

That tumulus adds another feature to the 
beautiful view, over the city, from the castle. 
The Vistula winds gracefully, and heightens, by 
the contrast of its gentle stream, the interest ex¬ 
cited by the signs of decayed grandeur on its 
banks. In the distance another tumulus is seen, 
said to be of Cracus, the chief of the Leeks, who 
founded Cracow in the eleventh century. Over 
the entrance of the castle is the inscription :— 
Senatus populusque Cracovicnsis restituit 1827. 
This applies to the gate : destituit 1835, might, 
I thought, be applicable to the assembly. 

The senate of Cracow is composed of nine 
members and a president, elected every three 
years. All the citizens of the republic used to 
vote : at present the three protecting powers, 
each of whom has a representative (called a resi¬ 
dent) in the city, manage the election. They 
named the actual president, M. Haller, whose 
views are said to coincide with those of his 
patrons. I came in contact with the residents 
owing to an alleged informality in my passport, 
which alarmed my landlord, as he entertained a 
horror of a suspected person. I had come from 
Russia, had traversed part of Austria, and was 
going to Prussia; therefore all three felt an 






476 


CRACOW. 


interest in my proceedings. The Russian seemed 
inclined to monopolize me; but, as he was likely 
to give some annoyance, I cut him, and put my 
case into the hands of the Prussian. He was 
very civil, as Prussian employes always are. I 
observed to his secretary, as an explanation for 
not being quite en rbgle , that we English w r ere 
made careless by the absence of passports in our 
own country. He opened the eyes of astonish¬ 
ment at this strange announcement, and refused 
to credit the existence of any country free from 
passports. 


CRACOW. 


477 


CHAPTER XX. 


CRACOW - BRESLAW- MANUFACTURES- PROVINCIAL PAR¬ 
LIAMENTS-POORHOUSES-BERLIN —CATHOLIC CLERGY- 

SAN SOUCI-MUSEUM-MAGDEBURGII—IIANOVER. 

* 

On the third day I quitted the antique capital 
of Poland, with fervent aspirations that it may 
again equal its former renown, and give laws to 
a free people. Our road lay for several miles 
through the territory of Cracow along the left 
bank of the Vistula. The republic is circum¬ 
scribed within narrow limits by Austria, Russia, 
and Prussia. The Austrian frontier is at the 
distance of 145 feet, the width of the Vistula, 
from the city: Russia approaches it within ten 
miles ; and the Prussian frontier is thirty-eight 
miles distant. The country we traversed in 
going towards Prussia is pretty, and apparently 
under tolerable cultivation. Two monasteries, 
boldly situated on rocky heights under which 
we passed, and a large chateau, belonging to a 


478 


BRESLAW. 


Polish nobleman, added a legendary interest of 
monkish and feudal hue, to the scene; far sur¬ 
passed, however, by the tumuli of Kosciusko 
and of Cracus, which we kept in sight for a 
long while. 

We travelled all night, and reached Oppelm 
early next morning. We thence continued our 
journey on good roads over a well cultivated 
country, and at five in the evening arrived at 
Breslaw on the Oder; one of the finest, as well 
as the best paved cities in Europe. We alighted 
at the Hotel d’Allemagne. While supper was 
preparing, we walked to the platz to admire the 
splendid monument of art, executed by Rauch 
in honour of Marshal Blucher, a bronze copy of 
which, on a pedestal of porphyry, is, I believe, 
at Apsley-house. The prevailing genius of a 
country may be seen at once in the statues 
which adorn the public places : in Prussia they 
are of generals : in Italy they are of saints : in 
England they are of princes and politicians: in 
France they are of toutes les gloires ; Joan d’Arc, 
Sully, Henri Quatre, Turenne, Duguesclin, 
Voltaire, Bonaparte, etc., take the air together. 

There is an extensive and superior manu¬ 
factory of iron at Breslaw, and several of beet¬ 
root sugar : as the Silesian coal is of a good 
quality, steam engines are worked with eco- 


BRESLAW. 


479 


nomy. Silesia grows first-rate beet-root and 
good tobacco : its beet-root has eleven parts in 
a hundred of saccharine matter, while there are 
only seven parts and a half in French beet-root. 
Necessity is truly the parent of invention : the 
restriction of the importation of colonial produce 
into France by Napoleon, turned attention to the 
humble root which had been deemed only fit 
for salads and to feed cattle with. A carica¬ 
ture on the subject appeared in England at the 
time : John Bull was represented as throwing 
beet-roots on the French shore, and ironically 
saying, “ make sugar from them.” How little 
was it then imagined that, in thirty years, con¬ 
tinental Europe would be enabled to supply 
herself with no small portion of the sugar re¬ 
quired for her consumption.* 

Breslaw is the seat of one of the six provincial 
parliaments of the kingdom, which are said to 
be preparatory schools for training the Prussians 


* Experiments are being made with potatoes for the same 
purpose in Hungary. Count Elwitch has 10,000 acres oi 
his large estate on the Danube planted with potatoes. The 
saccharine matter is expressed from them, with which a sort 
of treacle is made, used by the peasantry for sugar. The 
pulp serves for feeding cattle. I have heard that the Count 
has also got 500 acres planted with sunflowers, from which 
an oil is extracted, said to be fit for the table. 






480 


BRESLAW. 


to the exercise of central representative power. 
King Frederick William has been blamed for 
having departed from his promise of giving his 
people a constitution: he says in reply, that he 
considered it necessary to educate them for their 
new functions, and prepare them by previous 
training for important duties. The provincial 
assemblies are so many political Lyceums. We 
may fairly presume that a sufficient probation 
has been gone through, and may therefore trust 
that the next king of Prussia will see the wisdom 
of summoning an Imperial Parliament before one 
is loudly demanded, as it most probably will be 
if the concession be long deferred after the death 
of the reigning sovereign. The provincial as¬ 
semblies sit every three years. Each member 
is paid three dollars (nine shillings) a day during 
the session. The chambers discuss laws pre¬ 
sented to them, with the right of rejection ; but 
have not the power to originate any. They have 
already conferred great benefits on Prussia, by 
stimulating and directing the industry of the 
people, and by cordially co-operating in the 
wise measures of their sovereign respecting com¬ 
merce and municipal regulations. Next to the 
“ Commercial Union ” and the Church reform, 
the local administration has occupied the atten¬ 
tion of the government, and is now placed on 


POOR- HOUSE. 


481 


a solid foundation. Each town elects its own 
mayor for three years; when, if that officer be 
re-elected, he remains in office six years longer: 
if then again elected, he cannot be removed, 
unless for a grave offence, for nine years. If 
finally le-elected at the end of eighteen years, 
he remains in office at will; for it is presumed 
that an individual who has given satisfaction for 
so long a period will continue to do so, as much 
from habit as from desire; and that he will not 
be disposed to change his own measures, which, 
having had several years’ trial, ought to be 
satisfactory. 

In every town and considerable village there is 
a Poorhouse, where individuals presenting them¬ 
selves are supported until they find employment. 
The management of the poor is in the hands of 
a local committee composed of clergymen and 
respectable householders, being an exception to 
the centralizing system of Prussia. The rule is, 
to endeavour by relieving the distressed in their 
homes to save them from the necessity of apply¬ 
ing to the workhouse. The committee know 
that the poorhouse is degrading and demorali¬ 
zing, and therefore do all in their power to keep 
the honest man out of it: they make themselves 
acquainted with the character of the poor in their 
district, and where misfortune is the cause of 







482 


MANUFACTORIES. 


distress, grant outdoor relief: they calculate that 
the expense of maintaining a destitute family 
in the workhouse for a given time, would, if 
judiciously employed, have prevented it from 
sinking to that state, preserving also its self¬ 
esteem. The maintenance of domestic ties is 
considered so salutary to the state, that any 
measure is preferred to separating parents from 
their children, or from each other. The poor- 
house in Prussia appears to be used as a refuge 
against absolute want, arising from desertion, 
impotence, alienation, or vagabondage, rather 
than as a test of destitution for the able-bodied 
and well-disposed. 

The solicitude for the poor in Prussia is exem¬ 
plified by the following regulations, which were 
issued at the time of which I write, May 1839, 
for the employment of children in manufactories, 
rendered necessary by the increase of the latter. 
1. No child under nine years can be employed 
in any manufactory.—2. Young people employed 
in manufactories must, before the age of sixteen, 
have attended the parochial schools for three 
yeafs; and be able to prove, by a certificate 
from the schoolmaster, that they can read their 
mother tongue readily, dnd are acquainted 
with the elements of writing: there can be no 
exception to this rule, but in the case where 


MANUFACTORIES. 


483 


manufacturers have schools attached to their 
establishments.—3. Young’people, under sixteen 
years, are not be employed in any manufactory 
for more than ten hours a day: in cases of great 
urgency, the local authorities may grant an 
extension, but in no instance for more than one 
hour a day, nor to be continued above a month. 
—4. Workpeople shall have a quarter of an hour 
in the forenoon and the afternoon, and one hour 
at noon, for recreation.—5. The work is not to 
commence before five in the morning, and to 
cease at nine in the evening: work is prohibited 
on Sundays and other fete days.—6. The 
workmen who have not taken the communion, 
cannot be employed during the hours set apart 
for religious instruction. Several paragraphs 
follow, enumerating a series of fines, more 
or less heavy, for infringements bf the above 
regulations. 

The road from Breslaw to Berlin is diversified 
by several fair towns, among which 1 was par¬ 
ticularly pleased with the appearance of Frank¬ 
fort on the Oder. We stopped nowhere, but 
travelled without intermission to the cold, empty, 
stately capital of Prussia. Berlin is one of the 
finest cities in Europe in point of appearance, 
but is at the same time one of the most uninte¬ 
resting, on account of the absence of associations, 

i i 2 





484 


BERLIN. 


and of a scanty population. It conveys no idea 
of the capital of a people, teeming with life 
and endowed with self-existence, as London, Paris 
and Vienna. Remove the court, the garrison, 
and the diplomatic body, and Berlin would re¬ 
main a desert. Still, as a capital, there is much 
to admire in it in the way of public edifices and 
establishments ; while the lover of order and the 
legislator are surprised to find how intimately 
the arrangements of domestic life, the pursuits 
of pleasure, and even the ways of vice, are con¬ 
nected with the plan of government. All seems 
to be provided for. The eyes of the police are 
everywhere, as those of a careful nurse ; they 
look after the public, in the theatres, and even 
guard their health and purses in unnameable 
places. At a superficial glance, we are rather 
scandalized at the apparent connivance of the 
Prussian government at vice and immorality; 
but we perceive that, considering them as un¬ 
avoidable attendants on all large societies, its 
aim is to check, by regulaton, abuses and 
evils which cannot be prevented. This sur¬ 
veillance over public and private life, is, how¬ 
ever, exercised so unobtrusively, and the people 
are brought up in such habits of discipline, that 
the system, which would be intolerable in some 
countries, is rather popular than otherwise in 


BERLIN. 


485 


Prussia : the Prussian likes to have some one at 
his shoulder to tell him when he is going wrong, 
and thanks his government for fixing the price 
of every thing. The Roman Catholic clergy 
certainly form an exception to the rule, and dis¬ 
like being interfered with in Prussia as much as 
in other countries. At the hotel where I put 
up, T found the Archbishop of Posen under sur¬ 
veillance for adhering to the determination of 
his brother of Cologne relative to mixed mar¬ 
riages. His Lordship was awaiting the decision 
of the government as to his future destination. 
Some persons are of opinion that considering 
the temper of his Rhenish provinces, the King of 
Prussia committed a fault, in opening a question 
with his Catholic clergy. A government should 
rarely take the initiative in religious matters : 
that ought to be left to the people. The inmates 
of palaces and of ministerial hotels are ill quali¬ 
fied to judge of the strength of religious feelings 
in private life ; they can form no adequate idea 
of the devotion, fervour, and reliance on the 
priest s words, which may exist in the cottage, 
and are therefore, it may be said, liable to 
miscalculate the results of their edicts, which, 
though abstractedly just, may be considered 
unjust by those for whom they are designed. 
Above prejudices themselves, they legislate as it 





486 


BERLIN. 


there were none anywhere: free from the mental 
crotchets occasioned by a narrow education, or 
by a limited sphere of observation, they reason 
as if all men were equally capable of distin¬ 
guishing right from wrong. The Archbishop of 
Cologne persisted in refusing to allow mixed 
marriages to be celebrated in his jurisdiction 
according to the rites of the Roman Catholic 
church : at which the king became at length 
incensed, and ordered the prelate to be removed 
from his diocese as a state prisoner. As might 
have been anticipated, the Catholic population 
sided with the latter, and thought the inter¬ 
ference of the Protestant government unwar¬ 
ranted. It certainly seemed uncalled for. The 
question affected a mere fraction of the com¬ 
munity, marriages between persons of different 
persuasions being very rare in any country : the 
government might have settled it by declaring 
the sanction of the Catholic church unnecessary 
in order to give legality to such marriages. It 
would then have been simply a question of con¬ 
science, which should always be left for people 
to solve as they please; a question between love or 
interest on one side, and a deference to religious 
scruples on the other. If mixed marriages 
became the order of the day, the people would 
soon invite the government to aid them against 



BERLIN. 


487 


the clergy who might prove intolerant, though 
the latter would probably have too much sense 
to array themselves against public opinion; but 
while they remained confined to a few individuals, 
any legislation on the subject could not fail 
to give the Roman Catholic church greater 
influence with its flock, and, in a moral sense, 
weaken the Protestant rule, which, if ever it can 
be acceptable to Roman Catholics, must be so in 
Prussia, where justice and impartiality form the 
rule of government, and a strict adherence to 
which caused the schism alluded to. 

I became acquainted at Berlin with an intelli¬ 
gent Ottoman, Kiamil Pasha, the envoy extra¬ 
ordinary from the Sublime Porte, who has since 
been recalled to employ his talents more use¬ 
fully at Constantinople. As I had been recently 
in that city, he was glad to see a great deal of 
me, and I was delighted to find that he had 
gained more knowledge from his residence in 
Christendom than Turks generally do. He 
lived in a noble style, and adapted himself to 
European usages without affectation, though 
from his ignorance of any language but his 
own he confessed himself mortally ennuye: he 
gave a grand breakfast one day, when I was at 
Berlin, to the members of the British legation, 
at which he presided with as much ease and 




488 


BERLIN. 


grace, and used his knife and fork as skilfully, 
as if he had been brought up in a good Christian 
house. He toasted Queen Victoria at the dessert, 
and we in return proposed the heath of Sultan 
Mahmoud. 

I was agreeably surprised to find a deep 
interest taken at Berlin in the Eastern question, 
and it was easy to perceive that the bias was 
anti-Russian. The English legation was quite 
oriental in its views. Lord William Russell 
(our minister) had devoted considerable attention 
to the subject; his position gave him facilities 
for ascertaining facts and comparing opinions, 
and he had ably profited by them. My testi¬ 
mony may not be worth much; but I cannot 
help saying, that I rarely met a person who, as 
far as I could judge, had acquired a juster appre¬ 
ciation of the state of Turkey and the position 
of Russia, or had come to clearer conclusions 
about the complicated Eastern question. No 
man in Europe anticipated more correctly the 
disastrous issue of Sultan Mahmoud’s last attack 
on Syria. I may add, and am proud to acknow¬ 
ledge, that some remarks in the preceding pages 
about Constantinople, which may be considered 
of value, were suggested by conversations which 
I had with his lordship at Berlin. 

The attaches to the mission, Mr. Henry Howard 


BERLIN. 


489 


and Lord Augustus Loftus, aided me with their 
cheerful society in seeing the sights of the capi¬ 
tal and the environs. We passed a pleasant 
day, among others, at Potsdam, to which place 
we were wafted in a few minutes one cold 
morning on the railroad. We arrived in time 
to see a review of the garrison, composed of the 
smartest, best dressed young fellows I ever saw. 
Prussian troops seem just calculated for the 
onset, but some persons doubt if they could 
withstand the weariness of expectation and the 
prolonged difficulties of a retreat. We then, at 
San Souci, feasted our eyes on the memorials of 
the great Frederick, who, however, from the 
memoirs of his sister, the Margravine of Ans- 
pach, seems to have been an ungracious, capri¬ 
cious being, and to have paid off on others the 
ill-treatment which he had received from his 
father. We saw in a library a volume of his 
poetry, with corrections by Voltaire in the mar¬ 
gins of some of the pages: we went into the study 
of the patriarch of Ferney, and sat down at the 
green table on which he wrote: we walked over 
the verdant graves of the king s favourite charger 
and dogs ; and then repaired to the ugly red 
palace, built by Frederick in a vaunting spirit, 
to shew that his finances were not exhausted by 
war: it has an exquisite hall, like a vast marine 




490 


MAGDEBURGH. 


grotto, and is surrounded by statues more re¬ 
sembling drunken women of the pave than 
classic bacchanalian females. We thought that 
they were only fit to be broken up for paving 
roads. 

Berlin is not either rich in sculpture: the 
collection at the Museum is poor, and rendered 
apparently more so by the contrast with its 
singularly elegant receptacle. This is ‘an un¬ 
lucky circumstance. The rooms are infinitely 
more admired than their contents: whereas, in 
building a gallery for works of art, the contrary 
effect ought to be kept in view; they only should 
claim attention. That at Berlin is too beautiful 
for any other than the Florentine collection; 
this alone would be in keeping with its faultless 
dome and chaste walls. 

After three agreeable weeks passed at Berlin, 
I took leave of my esteemed friends, and pro¬ 
ceeded to Magdeburgh, the fair city where 
Martin Luther received part of his education, 
The cathedral is a beautiful pile. The traveller 
bound to England may here embark on the 
river, and steam to Hamburgh. Hanover, how¬ 
ever, being so near, I resolved, as in duty bound 
after the hospitality received at their hands on 
a previous occasion, on revisiting my friends 
there before returning home. I accordingly 


IIANOVER. 


491 


proceeded from Magdeburgh to Brunswick, 
remained in that pretty city—a capital in minia¬ 
ture—one night, and the next afternoon reached 
Hanover. 

I saw Hanover this time under more favour¬ 
able auspices than at my former visit, that is, 
as far as my amusement was concerned. The 
season was fine: various royal birthdays, occur¬ 
ring in May, occasioned great festivity among all 
classes, besides filling the city with provincials, 
desirous of offering their congratulations to the 
members of the royal family; and there was a 
gathering of the deputies of the provinces and 
boroughs for the opening of the Chambers; the 
approach of which excited considerable interest, 
on account of the endeavours of the liberal party 
to prevent a sufficient number of members from 
taking their seats with the view of compelling 
the government to recur again to a new election. 
I was, therefore, in good fortune, and enjoyed 
myself much during the fortnight 1 remained. 

Hanover, as I said in a former chapter, is an 
indifferent town, in point of extent and appear¬ 
ance, but it has the accessories of larger capitals, 
such as a museum, an opera, club, promenades, 
military bands, etc.; and is rendered a very 
pleasant residence during spring and summer 
by the picturesque variety of the environs. 






492 


I1AN0VER. 


There is an extensive wood in the vicinity laid 
out in walks and rides, presented to the inha¬ 
bitants by two maiden ladies, whose honoured 
names escape my recollection, making a park 
such as few cities in Europe can boast of. We 
English used to enjoy it in the line evenings 
after dinner; and being nearly the only eques¬ 
trians, had ample room for galloping. The 
Hanoverians are good riders, and understand 
horses; they are carefully instructed at the 
manege in the mysteries of the noble art; but 
they rarely ride for amusement or exercise as 
the English and the Orientals do. I saw no 
ladies on horseback, excepting our fair country¬ 
women, the amiable daughters of General 
Halkett, who daily set a graceful example to the 
Hanoverian fair sex. General Halkett, as my 
reader probably knows, holds a high command 
in the Hanoverian service: he served in the 
“ legion 5 ' with great distinction throughout the 
Peninsular war, and at Waterloo. 

The grounds of Herren-hausen, the king's 
principal country house, are also extensive, and 
being always thrown open, are a great resource 
to the public, particularly on Sundays and other 
fete days, when military bands are stationed in 
them, and perform in a manner which shews 
that the Hanoverians have the musical taste as 


HANOVER. 


493 


marked as any of their German brethren. The 
gardens are laid out in the old formal style, 
which reminds one of red heels and hoops, of 
powdered gallants and painted coquettes; they 
aie, nevertheless, well worth seeing, and their 
waterworks are as fine, and throw as lofty a jet as 
the celebrated works of Versailles. There is an 
uncovered theatre, a la Grecque , in the grounds, 
situated amidst statues and trees, with rows of 
marble seats for the spectators. Plays used to 
to be acted there in the time of the Electoral 
court; but the climate has either changed since, 
or people have become more chilly than they 
w T ere when such outdoor amusements were in 
fashion. The usage, however, of the court giving 
theatrical entertainments at Herren-hausen is 
preserved : the spacious orangery is occasionally 
fitted up as a theatre, and while I was at Han¬ 
over two operas were given in it by his Majesty 
in honour of the Crown Prince’s birthday. 

This afforded the court an opportunity, with¬ 
out offending noble prejudices, of shewing civil¬ 
ity to individuals whose position did not entitle 
them to be asked to the royal table. The 
Hanoverian nobility is very sensitive on this 
point, particularly with respect to ladies whose 
names are not prefixed by Von. The entertain¬ 
ment thus provided was exceedingly agreeable; 




494 


HANOVER. 


the kind’s servants handed refreshments between 
the acts to everybody; and the royal party, 
seated in front, conversed familiarly with the 
guests within reach of them. We saw the same 
kind of hospitality, displayed on a larger scale, 
in the city, by the king engaging the Opera 
house twice, and sending the tickets to his 
friends, and to such of the public as he wished 
to distinguish : tea, coffee, ices, cakes and wine 
were carried in profusion, between the acts, by 
the royal servants, to the boxes, the gallery, 
and the pit. This was a princely way of giving 
concerts; indeed, the only one which could be 
adopted, the king’s house in the city being very 
confined. 

Herren-hausen is about equal to a second-rate 
country house in England ; and the other royal 
country residences, Mont Brillant and Georgen - 
garten , are no higher in the scale of magnifi¬ 
cence. When George IV. visited his hereditary 
dominions, he lodged in the former, and pro¬ 
nounced it scarcely fit for a dog to live in : but 
this opinion must not be received as conclusive, 
because his Majesty had no doubt the luxuries, 
above comparison, of Windsor Castle fresh in his 
recollection. The Hanoverians were delighted 
to have their sovereign among them again, 
the first time they had been thus honoured since 


HANOVER. 495 

\ 

George the Second’s reign ; but they were dis¬ 
appointed of seeing much of his Majesty, owing 
to an ill-timed fit of the gout which confined 
him to his apartment. The Electress Sophia 
was residing at Herren-hausen when the envoy 
arrived from England with the grateful news 
that the succession to the crown was settled on 
her and her descendants. The house has, there¬ 
fore, an interest in English eyes, beyond that 
which is occasioned by its collection of portraits 
of the Guelph family. It is also memorable in 
Hanoverian annals as the place where the ad¬ 
vantageous treaty was signed which gave the 
succession of Celle to the Elector. 

A few days after my arrival at Hanover, 
Queen Victoria’s birthday occurred. Mr. Bligh, 
our worthy representative, gave a state dinner 
on the auspicious occasion to the Hanoverian 
ministry and the corps diplomatique; and the 
English travellers in Hanover dined either with 
the Crown Prince or the King. They often en¬ 
joyed this honour; for his Majesty delighted to 
see his countrymen at his table: but this atten¬ 
tion was peculiarly gratifying and appropriate. 

I heard Queen Victoria prayed for in Hanover 
exactly as in England. The service of the 
Church of England is regularly performed in 
the dining-room of the palace ; and there all 







496 


HANOVER. 


the English, including their Majesties, assem¬ 
bled every Sunday, without any regard to their 
station of life, whether noble or menial—master 
or servant. Our Liturgy was followed word 
for word, and it sounded rather strange in the 
palace of a foreign sovereign, to hear, in his pre¬ 
sence, the clergyman pray for “ our sovereign 
lady Queen Victoria.” The only deviation 
was that, after the above words, the king and 
queen of Hanover were specified before “ all 
the royal family.” The discrepancy was merely 
in sound; the sense was literally applicable, for 
the congregation was English, and the king, in 
his quality of peer of the United Kingdom, 
ranked as a subject of the British crown. The 
Rev. Dr. Jelf, well known as the tutor of Prince 
George of Cumberland, officiated. His Royal 
Highn ess had just been confirmed by the Bishop 
of Rochester, who came over to Hanover for that 
purpose, giving also the Hanoverians the un¬ 
usual sight of an English prelate — a pillar of 
the wealthiest church in Europe. That cere¬ 
mony being over, and the Prince having attained 
manhood, Dr. Jelf was about to retire to his 
canonry at Oxford, leaving his royal pupil in 
the enjoyment of his own establishment either 
at Fiirsten haus (Prince’s house), or at Georgen- 
garten (George’s garden), in the vicinity. 



CROWN PRINCE. 


497 


Colonel During and Captain Frase were the 
officers composing his suite. The Prince is a 
tall good-looking young man, endowed with 
attainments and a solidity of understanding 
very remarkable in one of his age. I had 
known his Royal Highness some years earlier 
in England, and was glad to find, in meeting 
him again, that he retained his English feel¬ 
ings, with the same amiable disposition and 
gentlemanly deportment which characterized 
him as a boy, and made him universally liked. 
His manners were so natural and free from 
restraint, that his blindness might have passed 
unnoticed by the casual observer. I believe 
that hopes are still entertained of restoring 
partial sight to him ; but should the operation 
prove unsuccessful, no person with such an in¬ 
fliction will have less occasion to regret it. His 
tact and readiness supply, in a great measure, 
the loss of vision. We saw this at his birth¬ 
day levee, which was numerously attended: 
leaning on an aid-de-camps arm, he walked 
about the saloon with confidence, and received 
the congratulations of the company with perfect 
self-possession; he never addressed anybody 
inopportunely, or hesitated in giving the proper 
reply. Education, so important to everybody, 
is truly invaluable in the case of a person 

K K 




498 CROWN PRINCE. 

afflicted with loss of sight, for which sad pri~ 
vation it almost compensates \ and instruction, 
it may be said, has rarely been more judiciously 
applied than in the present instance, or been 
attended with better success. The Crown Prince 
of Hanover is master of three languages, — 
French, German, and English, possessing each 
equally well: he is an excellent performer on the 
piano-forte, being at the same time thoroughly 
acquainted with the principles of music ; several 
of his compositions are deservedly admired even 
in Germany, where most men are connoisseurs 
of the gentle science. More essential points of 
education have not been neglected; and his 
mind, being undisturbed by external objects, 
has retained in a remarkable degree all that 
which it has acquired. A good memory and 
a readiness at analysis, are necessary conse¬ 
quences of privation of sight. Hearing him 
converse on history and geography, on the 
manners and commerce of different countries, 
a stranger might think, were it not for the 
youth of the speaker, that he must have lived 
many years in the world, and have travelled 
much : he fain respects him for his attainments, 
the fruits of a careful and judicious education, 
independently of any considerations about his 
social position. His Royal Highness has been 


CROWN PRINCE. 


499 


pre-eminently fortunate in having had an able 
and an upright tutor; and if his acts in after¬ 
life do not correspond to the promises of his 
youth, his counsellors will have much to answer 
for. He is also, I should say, much indebted to 
the queen, his accomplished mother, who may be 
cited as an example in favour of the observation 
of the noble biographer of Sir William Jones, 
that the acquirements of an individual are re¬ 
markably influenced by the tone imparted to his 
mind, when young, by his mother. A superior 
man may have had an ordinary mother, but 
the son of a talented woman, if she does her 
duty, must be clever. 

The satisfactory meeting of the Chambers 
under the constitution of 1819, and the voting of 
the budget, added greatly to the harmony of the 
festivities while I was at Hanover. The king’s 
birthday concluded them. There was a parade 
of the garrison in the morning on the Waterloo 
platz , which is in more ways than one the show- 
place of Hanover : in addition to the handsome 
Corinthian column of victory erected in honour 
of the Hanoverians who fell at Waterloo, there 
is a neat temple inclosing the bust of Leibnitz. 
The name alone is inscribed on the base ; in 
reference to which an amusing anecdote is re¬ 
lated. Some Prussian officers observing the 

K K 2 




500 


BALL. 


bust one day, and being accustomed to see none 
but statues of Generals in their public places, 
asked who General Leibnitz was. In the even¬ 
ing the king gave a grand ball at the chateau, 
which, though unfinished, and therefore not 
inhabited, has some fine handsomely-furnished 
state rooms, well adapted, like those at St. 
James’s, for court ceremonials. I need not de¬ 
scribe the entertainment; for balls in civilised life 
are nearly the same everywhere : it was brilliant 
of course, and I may add—which perhaps makes 
an exception—very comfortable : the apartments 
were neither too crowded nor too hot. The 
king amused himself with a rubber, and the 
queen received her guests with the inimitable 
grace peculiarly hers : it was delightful to see 
her Majesty go round the circle, and, speaking 
three or four languages, as occasion required, 
say something agreeable to each of many hun¬ 
dreds of persons with a kindness and affability 
which set everybody at their ease. I was no 
longer surprised at her great popularity, the 
necessary effect of fascination of manner joined 
to goodness of heart. 

The dancing was followed by a splendid supper, 
laid out in three or four rooms, in one or other 
of which the guests were marshaled, and placed 
according to their rank by the chamberlains, 


BALL 


501 


who 1 thought displayed considerable address 
and skill in performing this difficult part of their 
duty. Precedence at Hanover being governed, 
as in Prussia, by military rank, the English 
present might have expected to sit last, which 
would have been an annoyance, not to their 
self-love, but to their curiosity, by depriving 
them of the spectacle in the principal banqueting 
room; but the king, knowing the position of 
his countrymen in that respect, that they may 
be very proper people, and yet not have the 
rank of a corporal, had directed that they should 
be placed as though they were major-generals. 
This attention brought us all to the first table, 
in the celebrated ritter sal , which is in my 
opinion one of the handsomest rooms in Europe; 
and there we supped royally and cheerfully, 
listening to delicious strains proceeding from 
invisible musicians, stationed in a gallery behind 
figures of animals, with open mouths, in the 
upper part of one side of the hall. 

I took leave in a day or two, and, accom¬ 
panied by Lieut. Wyke, of the seventh Fusileers, 
left Hanover at one in the morning. We tra¬ 
velled that night, and the next day at four in 
the afternoon reached Harburgh, on the left bank 
of the Elbe, opposite to Hamburgh. Islands in¬ 
tervene, which enabled the French, when they 








502 


BALL. 


occupied the country, to connect the towns by a 
bridge, which has since been carried away. A 
steamer now supplies its place. We arrived 
too late for the last steamer; so we hired a 
sailing boat, and, the wind being fair, crossed 
the river in half-an-hour. We amused our¬ 
selves at Hamburgh by looking about us during 
the evening. At midnight (June 13th) we em¬ 
barked in the English steamer, and in sixty 
hours landed at the Custom-house, London. 


APPENDIX. 








I ; 








4 





























* 

- m 









APPENDIX. 


NOTICE ON THE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 

OF RUSSIA. 

The Russians divide the history of their language and 
literature into three periods: the first dates from the 
introduction of Christianity into Russia during the latter 
lialf of the tenth century, in the reign of Wladimir the 
Great: the second from the end of the Tartar domination, 
in 1446: the third commences with the reign of Eliza¬ 
beth, and continues to the present day. 

The Russian language bears the same relation to 
Sclavonic as Italian does to Latin, with this difference, 
that every Russian understands more or less Sclavonic, 
his Bible being written in that language, whereas few 
Italians understand Latin. 

This identity of Russian with Sclavonic makes the 
former at once a modern and an ancient language, and 
for that reason strangers rarely attain a perfect know¬ 
ledge of it. 

The works in the Russian language may be classed in 
the following manner: 

First Period—Treaties of Peace and Commerce between 





506 


APPENDIX. 


the Imperial Greek government and the reigning Grand 
Dukes Oleg and Tgor in 912. These, which contain the 
first elements of Russian legislation, were collected and 
classed methodically, with notes and reflections, by the 
Czar Yaroslaw in 945. The latest edition of this work 
was published in 1792.—A Translation of the Bible from 
Greek into Sclavonic by a Commission composed of 
learned Ecclesiastics whom the Russian government ol 
that time invited from Constantinople.—The Annals of 
Russia, by Nestor, a monk of the chief convent of Kief, 
who is the earliest Russian historian. He is also the 
first writer who deviated from the primitive Sclavonic: 
his style is intermediate between the latter language and 
modern Russian. In the two first chapters of his work 
he describes with exactitude the geography of ancient 
Russia, and enumerates the different tribes inhabiting it: 
he also recounts the exploits of the Russian hero Svia- 
toslaw, who made several incursions into the Greek 
empire. The Annals of Nestor date 1116; they were 
carried on by Silvester, Archbishop of Periaslaw, to 
1123, and by two anonymous writers to 1203.—A priest 
of Novogorod also wrote Annals of Russia in 1230. 
Besides these writers there are several others who carry 
the history of Russia down to the middle of the fifteenth 
century. 

These works shew that literature began to develop 
itself in Russia as early as in other countries. The 
reason why this tendency towards civilization was arrested, 
lay in the civil wars among the twelve sons of Wladimir 
the Great, each of whom had a portion of the empire for 
his inheritance; and the same cause facilitated the inva¬ 
sion of Russia by the Tartars. 


APPENDIX. 


507 


Peter the Great first collected the ancient manuscripts 
preserved in various monasteries. 

Second Period, or the middle age of Russian literature. 
—In the early part of the seventeenth century was 
founded the Academy of Kief; and that of Sclavonic- 
Greek-Latin, at Moscow, in 1677. The principal 
writers of this epoch are Peter Moguila, metropolitan of 
Kief, who laid down the principles of Russian poetry;— 
Maximus, a Greek, who wrote the first Sclavonic gram¬ 
mar ;—Innocent Guise], author of a history of the Scla¬ 
vonic people and of the reigning Princes of Kief, before 
the reign of the Czar Fedor Alexievitch, the father of 
Peter the Great;—Listoff, author of a history of the 
Scythians;—Theophanus Prokopovitch (born in 1681— 
died in 1786) wrote several theological and philosophical 
works—he was the literary assistant of Peter the Great;— 
Prince Antioch Kantemir (born in 1709—died 1744), 
son of the celebrated Prince Demetrius Kantemir, ob¬ 
tained by his satires the surname of the Russian Boileau; 
—Trediakovsky (born in 1703—died in 1769) translated 
into Russian, Rollin’s works and other French classics. 

Third Period, or the Russian literature and language 
as existing in the present day.—In the reign of Elizabeth, 
Peter the Great’s daughter, the Russian language began 
to shake off its harsh and ancient forms, and to purify itself. 
In 1755 the firstperiodical work was published at St. Peters- 
burgh, under the title of “Monthly Scientific and Literary 
Compositions;” and it contributed much to give the Rus¬ 
sians a taste for reading. Under the auspices of Catherine 
II. a commission of literati translated into Russian the 
Greek and Latin classics, and the principal French, Ger¬ 
man and English works. One of the members of the com- 






508 


APPENDIX. 


mission was the learned Eugene of Bulgaria, who trans¬ 
lated Virgil into Russian verse. The Imperial Academy 
of Sciences published about the same time its Etymological 
Dictionary. The scientific journeys undertaken in the 
reign of Catherine II. by Pallas, Gmeline, Zouef, Lepe- 
chine, and Osretskovsky, brought to light the natural 
riches of Russia. 

The following are the principal modern writers of 
Russia:—Lomonossof, who died in 1765, was the creator 
of modern Russian poetry, and author of the first Russian 
grammar: he wrote also an Abridgment of the History of 
Russia to the reign of Jaroslaw:—Soumorokof was the 
first good writer of tragedy; he left behind him the tra¬ 
gedies of Cinaw and Trouvor, of Hamlet, of Mstislaw, 
of the False Demetrius, and other poetic works:—Vine- 
jnine (who died in 1791) wrote the dramas of Dido, Ros- 
law, Wladislaw, Sophonisba, Wladimir and Jaropolk:— 
Proporsky (who died in 1760) translated Pope’s Essay on 
Man, the Odes of Horace, and Locke on the Education of 
Children :—Hemnitzer (who died in 1784) was surnamed 
the Russian Guellert on account of his Fables:—Tatis- 
chef wrote, in four volumes, the History of Russia to the 

reign of the Czar Michcel Fedovoritch inclusive_Kros- 

trof translated Homer and Ossian; his works were pub¬ 
lished in 1802:—Fonviesen (who died in 1793) is one 
of the best Russian prose writers; he translated the works 
of the Abbe Bitaube, and some productions of Thomas; 
his comedies are still acted :—Novikof published a Cata¬ 
logue of Ancient Russian Authors, an Historical Dictio¬ 
nary of Russian Authors, a periodical journal called “ the 
Painter;” and he established, in 1776, the first ‘reading 
room’ in Russia:—Golikof wrote the biography of Peter 


APPENDIX. 


509 


the Great:—Glinka translated into verse the Iliad and 
Young’s Night Thoughts:—Karamsine, the historio¬ 
grapher of Russia, made, by his prose, a revolution in 
Russian literature in the reign of Alexander.—Alexander 
Poushkine is the most celebrated of Russian poets; he 
was killed in a duel in 1838; his principal works are the 
Prisoner of Caucasus, the Fountain of Bachcheserai, and 
the romance in verse of Eugene Oneguine; his elegant 
taste and original style have made him exceedingly popu¬ 
lar in Russia. A splendid edition of his works was 
published at St. Petersburgh in 1839, at the Emperor 
Nicolas’s expense, and sold for the benefit of his widow 
and children.—Bestougof is the most celebrated prose 
writer; he was killed in 1838 in a skirmish against the 
Circassians; his principal works are Letters and Histori¬ 
cal Episodes on the Wars of Napoleon, written under 
the name of Mariinsky, Dramatic Scenes of Fights be¬ 
tween the Russian troops and the Circassians, and other 
pieces.—Krilof, surnamed the Russian Lafontaine, ranks 
as one of the most distinguished living authors; besides 
original works, he has translated the Fables of iEsop, of 
Phsedrus, of Lafontaine, and of Florian. 

Modern Russian literature has had, like the French, 
two sets of partizans—the Classics and the Romancists. 
During the last ten years of the reign of Alexander a 
controversy arose between these parties, which caused 
much ink to be shed, and filled the columns of the press 
with philippics. The representative of the Classics was 
Admiral Chichkoff; that of the Romancists was Karam¬ 
sine, one of the most popular writers in Russia, well 
known by his “ Letters” and his “Thoughts,” and by his 
History of Russia from the time of Rurik to the reign 





510 


APPENDIX. 


of John the Terrible inclusively, of which the first edition, 
in eleven volumes, was published at St. Petersburgh in 
1816 .* 

lhe Classics wished to preserve the ancient character 
of the Russian language, and its affinity to Sclavonic, the 
construction of which is the same as that of Latin, and 
which, like ancient Greek and Turkish, has the property 
of composing new words from the roots, and thus with¬ 
out borrowing from other languages, expressing the new 
ideas which arise from the progress of civilization, and 
from discoveries in the arts and sciences. The partizans 
of Russian classicism wished to avoid imitating other 
nations, who, in order to express new ideas, or name new 
wants, have recourse to ancient Greek ; they wished to 
create appropriate words from Sclavonic roots, and give 
their style a Latin construction, as some of their most 
celebiated authors who have written in Sclavonic have 
done. The Romancists, on the contrary, followed the 
example of Karamsine, who had adopted in all his writ¬ 
ings the genius of French construction, and taken J, J. 
Rousseau for his model, and although few among them 
have equalled their leader, all have imitated him more or 
less: the journals, the magazines, the pamphlets, etc. 
have been written of late years in this style, which is 
singularly in the taste of the Russians, and is closely imi¬ 
tated by them in epistolary correspondence and in conver¬ 
sation. The Romancists, in consequence, have triumphed 
over the Classics; and Karamsine has been acknowledged 
as the cieator ot the language now in use. 

4 - 

* This work was translated into French by Jauffrct, and published at 
Paris in 1820. 


APPENDIX. 


511 


\ here are three critics in Russia who exercise a great 
authority: Gretz, Bulgarine, and Senkovsky. Gretz 
has been the editor, for more than twenty years, of two 
political and literary journals, one of which is well known 
in Western Europe under the name of the “ Abeille du 
Nordhe is also the author of a Grammar of Philosophy, 
and of an abridged Russian Grammar, which is used in 
all the primary schools of the empire.—Bulgarine is the 
author of the first original novel in the Russian language, 
called Ivan Viziguine. Writers had confined themselves 
previously to translating French, English, and German 
novels. Bulgarine’s example has been followed by several 
others, the most celebrated of whom are Massalsky and 
Zagoskine ; the former wrote the “ Strelitz the latter, 
“Juri Miloslavski,”—both historical. Bulgarine followed 
up his Ivan Viziguine by his famous novel “ The False 
Demetrius,” which met with great success, and has been 
translated into French by Victor Fleury. Senkovsky is 
the chief of the triumvirate. He is the professor of the 
Arabian and Turkish languages at the university of St. 
Petersburgh, and is celebrated as much for his general 
erudition and profound criticism, as for his perfect know¬ 
ledge of the languages of the East and of the West. 
His principal work is the “ History of the Bokharans 
and of the Druses.” He also established a celebrated 
periodical under the title of the “ Library of Know¬ 
ledge,” which is in Russia what the Revue Encyclo- 
pedique is in France: it keeps the public informed of 
new publications in Russia and in foreign countries, with 
criticisms and extracts. This review has rendered con¬ 
siderable service to literature in Russia. 

An important and useful work has recently been com- 





512 


APPENDIX. 


pie ted in Russia; viz. a collection of the Ukases which 
constitute the jurisprudence and legislation of the empire, 
methodically and clearly arranged, so that an individual 
may plead his own case without the aid of counsel. This 
code of laws is in 110 volumes, each of which may be 
purchased separately; it was arranged on the plan of the 
Codes of Justinian and of Napoleon, printed at the expense 
of the government, and published in 1833. The sum¬ 
maries of the Ukases on each subject are reckoned models 
of Russian style. 

This great work was began in the reign of Peter the 
Great, in 1700. Every one of his successors named a 
commission of lawyers to continue it. Catherine II. her¬ 
self wrote the instructions for the commission which she 
appointed for this purpose ; they are much esteemed, and 
have been published in Russian, Latin, French and Ger¬ 
man. The last commission, appointed by the Emperor 
Nicholas, had the learned secretary of state Michcel Spe- 
ransky for its president. The history of this code was 
published in Russian and in French, in one small volume, 
at St. Petersburg!!, in 1833. 


LONDON: 

Printed by Manning and Mason, 12, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. 



























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